Journey Back
by clp66
Summary: House is home, because home is where the heart is; but he's not quite himself. Journey with House and Susan as he traverses the past six months to find his future. Chapter nineteen now posted.
1. Chapter 1

[A/N: I'm going to do something different for me with this story and start publishing it before it is complete. Most of the authors I follow post one chapter at a time as they write. I'm not comfortable going that far because it is not uncommon for me to go back and change a few things for continuity throughout the story, but I think I'm far enough along with this one to give you a little now and I'll add as I go. The reason I'm doing it this way this time, is that this story looks to be a long one. I'm already on the 7th chapter and haven't even gotten to the …..well, you'll find out.

Enjoy – and if you don't mind. Please leave a review. I'd love to hear what you think.]

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_Previously in "The Susan Chronicles"_

_The motorcycle slowed as it made the turn into their drive and came to a stop just behind their cars. House got off the motorcycle and removed his helmet, setting it on the seat. He looked toward the family who was getting up off of the park bench. Susan handed Billy to David and came down the steps of the porch. House took a hesitant few steps toward her and stopped, not fully sure of how he would be received. When Susan reached him she took both his hands in hers and looked up. Two sets of intensely blue eyes looked at each other, both glistening with unfallen tears, "Welcome home," Susan said with a catch in her throat as she fought the emotion. "Welcome home."_

Chapter One

Susan led House up the steps and inside while David and Phillip held back waiting for the two siblings to enter the house. David looked down at Phillip who had watched his mom and House walk inside with his mouth slightly agape in shock, "Are you okay son?" David asked. Phillip swallowed and nodded his head slightly. David, who was still carrying Billy, and Phillip followed the others inside and quietly took a seat in the living room while Susan had led House over to the kitchen table to sit down.

House was seated at the end of the table in silence staring off into space while Susan was making him a cup of coffee. When she was finished she took the mug over to him and set it on the table in front of him. He glanced up at Susan, his eyes still glistening and nodded slightly in thanks. She sat down at the side of the table next to him and took his left hand in hers and placed her right hand on his arm in comfort. The two said nothing as they sat there; one providing comfort and the other gathering strength. It was several moments before the unshed tears fell over the rim of his lower eye lids and trailed down his face. Susan stayed silent and continued to hold his hand and offer comfort as grief overtook her brother knowing that he grieved not only the loss of his closest friend, but also the loss of his own life he had given up. He had been able to put aside himself while Wilson was alive, but after he died the realization of what he had given up began to weigh heavily. Susan knew that there were no words she could offer so she sat silently holding his hand until he was finally able to speak, "I'm sorry," he said so softly Susan could barely hear him.

"You have no reason to be sorry," she replied just as quietly.

"I put you through hell," he said lifting his tear filled eyes to meet hers.

"For the right reasons," Susan said. "I forgive you; it's ok."

David sat back on the couch watching his wife as she ministered to her brother. For the longest time neither of them had spoken, yet David knew there was a lot of unspoken communication going on between the two. Finally he saw House speak, but he couldn't hear what he said, nor could he hear Susan's response. Billy sat facing David playing with the buttons on his daddy's shirt. When he tired of that he tried to pull David's watch off of his arm. Not being successful in either of these tasks, he turned his head and saw his mother across the room. He squirmed trying to get out of David's grip to reach his mother, so David set him down on the floor.

Billy had learned to put his legs under him in a crawling position, but he hadn't yet gained the coordination to crawl. Now on the floor, Billy's attention shifted to the tassels on the end of the rug. He shifted from all fours to a sitting position constantly shifting his weight in an effort to keep himself upright and noticed his toes. The rug tassels forgotten, he reached out to grab his toes and pull them towards his mouth which resulted in him losing balance and rolling backward. Not liking this position, he rolled himself back over to his tummy and worked his legs underneath him when he noticed the rug tassels again. He reached out for them with one hand while keeping the other on the floor. He came up short, so he reached out with the other hand and landed on his tummy. He still couldn't reach the rug tassels, so he put his legs underneath him and reached out again. He worked this way until he was finally successful and tried to pull the tassels off the rug and toward his mouth. They wouldn't budge and Billy voiced his frustration.

David had been looking over at Susan and House and looked back down when he heard Billy, "How'd you get over there?" he asked quietly. He got up from his seat and took the two steps over to Billy and picked him up. Once up high Billy noticed his mother again and reached out toward her. David tried to keep him quiet, but Billy made it clear that he wanted his mother. David finally gave in and walked over to Susan and House, "Susan, I'm sorry but he's…"

"It's okay," Susan said and took her son from David and sat him on the table facing her. Billy giggled and reached for his mother's nose. David stepped away and motioned for Phillip to follow him outside.

While Billy was focused on his mother's face, House extended his finger from the hand that Susan had been holding out and lightly brushed against the soft skin on Billy's thigh. Billy, feeling the touch, shifted his attention to the hand that had touched him and reached down to grab the finger and looked up toward House's face. Two sets of baby blue eyes stared at each other and then Billy grinned and reached out for House's nose. House smirked, "He has a thing for noses," House said leaning back out of Billy's reach.

"Last month it was hair," Susan replied. "Grabbing noses is a lot less painful." Billy turned his attention back to his mother and held out his arms toward her. Susan scooted back in her chair and brought Billy to her chest. He laid his head down on her shoulder and stared at House as House stared back.

"He has your eyes," House said.

"David and I both have blue eyes," Susan said. "This entire family is one giant recessive gene."

"There's blue and then there's blue," House said. "He looks like David, but he has your eyes."

"Well hopefully, he's only inherited the color and not the vision," Susan said. Billy's eyes slowly shut as he drifted into slumber. Susan gently rubbed his back and closed her own eyes for a moment.

"Is there a place I could lay down?" House asked quietly.

Susan smiled softly and rose from the table, "Sure." She turned from the kitchen and went around the corner, through the mud room and out the side of the house.

House followed her outside in a bit of confusion as she walked across a pathway to an outbuilding. She opened the door with one hand and held it open until House caught up with her. He'd left his cane on his motorcycle and so was moving a little slower than normal. He followed her inside and discovered that the outbuilding was actually a guest house and was furnished with his furniture. His lifted his eyebrows in surprise, "You brought my stuff?"

Susan turned and looked at him, "You didn't arrange this?" Susan asked.

House shook his head.

"Hmm," Susan sounded in thought. "It came with us out here, but we didn't know we had it until the movers unloaded it from the truck."

"Where's my piano?" House asked.

"In the house," Susan said. "We haven't been keeping the temperature constant in here, and so I thought it would be better for it if it just stayed over there. We can move it over here."

"Just keep it there for now," House said. "I know where it is if I want to play." He walked through the house; it was identical to the main house except smaller and only had one bedroom and bathroom. He walked in his bedroom and found his bed made and ready and his bedroom furniture already arranged to his satisfaction. He went over to his bed and sat down and took off his shoes

Susan smiled at him, "Sleep well Greg," she said and turned to walk out of the room.

"Susan?" Susan turned and looked back at her brother. He looked at her but didn't say any more.

Susan nodded in understanding and went back to the main house to put Billy down in his crib for his nap. She picked up the monitor so she could hear him when he woke up and went outside to find David and Phillip.


	2. Chapter 2

_[A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and adding this story to your alerts. I wasn't aware that so many names I see reading some of my favorite authors also read my stories. I consider it an honor that so many are enjoying the Susan Chronicles. Here is chapter two – and it's short. I'll post another chapter tomorrow to make up for it.]_

Chapter Two

"You're awfully quiet," David said to Phillip. Phillip shrugged his shoulders, "You want to talk about it?"

"Not much to talk about," Phillip said.

"Okay. How about you hand me a 3/8ths socket?" David asked. Phillip looked at the bolt his dad was trying to loosen on the tractor and handed him a 5/8ths. "That's not a 3/8ths," David said handing it back.

"Neither is the bolt you're trying to loosen," Phillip said.

David looked at him a little annoyed but tried the socket anyway; it fit. David sighed with frustration, "I don't know how you do that," David said.

"I don't understand why you can't," Phillip said. "Why are you loosening that bolt anyway?"

"I need to change the hydraulic fluid," he motioned over to his manual. "The instruction booklet says it's time to change it."

"So why are you loosening that bolt?" Phillip knelt down next to his dad, "It's this one you need to change."

David sat back and looked at it again, "hmm."

"See dad, just follow the line. It's ends here, so you need to pull the bolt out of this casing, not that one," Phillip explained taking the ratchet from his dad. He pulled the 5/8th socket off of it and put a 3/8th on and then loosened the bolt. The fluid started draining in the catch pan his dad had placed underneath.

"You're good at this stuff," David acknowledged to his son.

"It's not rocket science dad," Phillip said.

"No, rocket science is easier," David replied with a grin.

"You're such a nerd."

"Ok, you're in charge of tractor maintenance," David said getting up and backing away.

"Sweet!" Phillip said and traded places with his dad.

Susan walked into the barn where she heard the guys talking.

"How is he?" David asked when he saw her walk in.

"He's resting," Susan said. "He'll be okay in time."

"Susan, you realize we have a bigger problem," David said.

"I know," Susan said. "It's a felony to fake your death."

"Which means if he stays here then we are an accessory," David completed.

"We're an accessory anyway because we know he's alive," Susan replied. "But yes, I know. Let's give him some time before we address that issue with him." Susan watched Phillip work. What he was doing wasn't difficult, but he seemed to really be enjoying himself.

"_I _didn't know he was alive," Phillip said as he tightened the bolt and started replacing the fluid.

"I know that neither of you believed me in the beginning, but didn't you at least suspect it when his furniture showed up out of nowhere?" Susan asked.

"I figured you brought it here," Phillip said.

"I said that I didn't."

"I know," Phillip said. "I didn't believe you."

"When have I ever lied to you Phillip?" Susan asked.

"I don't know," Phillip said. "But what I do know is that House lied."

"House?" Susan asked. "What happened to Uncle Greg?"

"He doesn't deserve to be called 'Uncle' anything," Phillip spat.

"Phillip," Susan said kneeling down, "First of all, I would never and have never lied to you about anything and I think you know that. Second, your uncle sacrificed everything to be there for Dr. Wilson. His life as he knew it is over. He can never go back somewhere where people know him; he can never practice medicine again. He has to start over from scratch and that's not an easy thing to do at 53."

"He managed to work it so he could be around somebody who knew him," Phillip countered. "And what's going to happen to us, are we going to go to jail?"

"Nobody is going to jail," David said. "We'll work things out somehow. Let us deal with the legalities; you just enjoy your new life here."

"This is why we moved here isn't it?" Phillip asked. "So House would be safe."

"No, we moved here because I was offered a once in a lifetime position," David said.

"That House probably set up," Phillip said.

"Well, I'm not going to deny the possibility until I have more information," David explained. "But regardless, the job was offered to me based on _my_ credentials and _I_ chose to take it. My position in Princeton was secure; I could have stayed there until I retired if I wanted," David said. "Besides, if we had stayed there would you be working on a tractor right now or would you be playing football for your school?"

"There is that," Phillip said as he finished replacing the fluid and started the process to bleed the lines. "I just don't like being lied to," Phillip said. "He made me love him and then he died; but then suddenly he's here alive just like nothing ever happened. I cried like a baby and there wasn't any reason. I feel stupid."

"There's no reason for you to feel stupid. It's okay to cry when you're hurt. You'd grown close to Greg, so it hurt when he died. I saw the building blow up around him; how do you think that made me feel?" Susan asked.

"But you're not mad at him," Phillip said.

"No. I've forgiven him because I see the bigger picture, Phillip. He did what he did because Dr. Wilson needed him. Maybe he didn't go about it in the best way, but I don't think he went in that building to set it on fire and fake his death. I don't know why the building was on fire and I don't even know why he was in there, but I do _know_ he was trying to get out when the building exploded; I _saw_ him. But when the building exploded and he got out, he took advantage of the situation and gave up everything. Now Wilson is gone; we have to help him get his life back. We're family and family doesn't abandon each other just because we've been hurt," Susan explained. "I'm not going to tell you to forgive him; that's between you and him. But I do want you to look at the bigger picture and think about things before you just write him off."

Phillip didn't respond, so Susan stood up from where she was kneeling. "I'm heading down to the spring while Billy's sleeping. I'll leave you guys to it." She picked her way between the implements, picked up her bucket of gardening tools and walked out of the pole barn and turned the corner.

"Dad, would you turn on the tractor and lift the front loader please?" Phillip asked. David hopped up and turned it on following Phillip's instructions. The two worked together to finish bleeding the air out of the hydraulic lines.

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House laid back and relaxed on his - _his_ bed. _This feels good_, he thought to himself. He closed his eyes and sighed. Ten minutes later he opened his eyes, sleep was as far away as Princeton. He kept going over the last two months he'd spent with Wilson. The first several months after his 'death', they had followed the coast line south and then west on their motorcycles ending up in Louisiana before Wilson started getting too uncomfortable and decided it was time to head back to his family to spend his last days with them. The men were sitting across from each other in a restaurant on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. House had just sat down after having convinced the band to let him play with them on the piano. They were so impressed, they asked him to play several more and by the time he was done, he'd played for nearly an hour. Wilson watched as House played seeing him disappear into himself and had mentioned when he got back to their table, _"Where do you go?" he'd asked._

_"I haven't gone anywhere Wilson, you saw me up there," House replied._

_"You know what I mean, it's like your mind goes somewhere else when you play," Wilson said._

_"You're an idiot Wilson."_

_"Fine; don't tell me," Wilson replied. He took a bite of his jambalaya, "This is good," he said._

_"You're going to regret it later tonight," House said._

_"Yeah, but it's worth it," Wilson said. "You only live once, right?" House smirked and nodded. "By the way, I need a copy of David's CV; can you get it for me?"_

_"David," House repeated in question._

_"Yes, David. You know, your brother-in-law," Wilson answered._

_"I know who he is," House said. "What do you need it for?"_

_"I just need it. Can you get it for me or not?"_

_"Sure. I can hack into the university when we get to the hotel," he'd replied. And he had done that when they got back, while he was there he'd snooped through David's university account hoping to find some news of Susan, but David's documents were strictly work related. He found a copy of his most recent employee review and read it. The academic dean seemed really impressed with him. House knew the academic dean and personally thought that David would be better at that position, but the man had tenure and a good relationship with the university president - he was obviously going nowhere. He wondered what Wilson had up his sleeve that he needed David's CV, but he was being tight lipped about it. He quit snooping and printed out the CV and put it with Wilson's things on the other bed._

House got tired of lying there thinking so got up out of bed and put his shoes back on. He went outside and hobbled over to his bike to retrieve his cane and then went inside the main house. It was deserted, but he heard some work being done to the north and assumed the family was there. He wandered through the house from room to room and found Billy asleep in the master bedroom. He saw the monitor was on and the receiver was missing from its charger. After watching Billy sleep for a few moments, he turned and left the room going into the living room and sat down at his piano. He ran his hand across the cover and then opened it. There was a folded piece of paper sitting on the keys. He opened it and read the note from Laura. He smiled and slipped it in his pocket and put his hands on the keys. Just as he pressed the first chord a sound emitted from Susan's room. He scowled to himself, got off the bench and walked down the hall.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Susan walked the trail down to the stream where David had taken her that first night. The porch swing was still set up and Susan had started working the garden, cleaning out the debris and preparing the bed for plantings. It was late, but she would be able to plant bulbs that would bloom in the spring and was thinking about planting mums and pansies. The mums were a perennial and would be green throughout the growing season and bloom in the fall. Pansies would provide some color over the winter. This spring she would add other perennials and annuals so that the garden would have color year around. She bent down and started cleaning out the next area.

Susan had been working for about a half hour when David came around to where she was and sat down on the porch swing, "Did you finish with the tractor?" Susan asked.

"Yes," David said.

"Phillip really seems to enjoy working on the tractor," Susan said.

"That and everything else; he's turning into quite a grease monkey," David acknowledged.

"I was thinking that he might enjoy taking a class next summer at the local Vo-Tech in small engine repair," Susan said. "What do you think?"

"I think he's too young to attend the Vo-Tech; don't you have to be in high school already?" David asked.

"Hadn't thought about that," Susan said. "I guess he could learn on his own. He'd probably learn more taking things apart and putting them back together anyway. When I was little and my dad took me over to the House's, Greg was always putting things back together. His mom used to give me two cookies and send me upstairs to find him."

"He didn't mind you hanging around? Most teenage boys wouldn't want a little girl hanging around," David said.

"He told me once that he was curious about me. By the time he was twelve he'd already figured out that my dad was his dad too, so he tolerated my presence. Apparently I talked too much," Susan said with a laugh in her voice as she continued to work.

Susan and David's conversation continued shifting from one subject to the other while Susan continued working on her flower beds, "Do you want to put in a garden fish pond? David finally asked.

"No, I don't think so," Susan said. "We have this natural spring running water along the creek bed. I may dig it out a little to deepen it a bit in this area and plant some lilies and rushes, but I'm not going to mess with building a garden pond and adding a fountain or a waterfall. I'll let nature fill in the minnows, frogs and whatever else decides to inhabit the area."

"I'm kind of surprised given how much you enjoyed the garden pond at the house in New Jersey," David said.

Susan smiled, "I have real nature here, and besides in the 'vast forested land' of our back yard in New Jersey, we didn't have to worry about raccoons stealing koi or other fish out of the pond for an exotic meal."

"Good point," David said.

"Don't worry; there will be plenty of wildlife taking advantage of all my good work here without adding fish and fountains. And, I'll be constantly battling to keep the deer from eating my flowers or armadillos from digging all the plants up out of the soft soil looking for bugs and such," Susan said. The baby monitor crackled as Billy's voice came through, "Sounds like I'm being paged." Susan stood up to head back to the house and then stopped when she heard another voice come through the monitor.

"What?" House's voice came through the speaker. "You think just because you're awake that you should be getting all the attention? Forget it, I'm here so it's all mine now."

Susan looked over at David and smiled. David got up from the swing and joined his wife and together they walked up to the house passing by the pole barn and seeing that Phillip now had the lawn mower completely unassembled and spread out all around him. "Are you going to be able to put that all back together?" David asked. Phillip looked up at his dad and grinned in answer. David and Susan continued to the house and by the time they walked inside House had changed and dressed William and was carrying him into the living room while Billy was doing his best to remove his uncle's nose from his face. House handed the baby to Susan who took him back to her room to nurse and the men went into the main area.

"I thought you were sleeping." David said.

"Brain wouldn't shut up," House said.

"Are you hungry?" David asked.

"I could eat," House said.

David rummaged through the refrigerator, "We have some left-over fajita stuff from the Mexican restaurant in town."

"That's fine," House said.

He sat down at the table while David worked on heating up the fajita mixture and some tortillas. While those were in the microwave, David pulled out a bag of tortilla chips and tossed it over to House who opened the bag and took out a few before setting the bag on the table. Next David opened the refrigerator and removed some of Susan's homemade salsa and put some on the table. It wasn't long before everything was on the table and David sat down with House at the table. The men had each eaten a couple when Phillip came inside. He smelled the fajitas and went in to wash his hands. He frowned when he saw House sitting at the table with his dad, so he grabbed a plate and filled it with everything except the meat and then took the plate back to his room leaving the men staring after him, "He's mad," House said.

"He'll get over it," David said.

"Are you?"

"No. I didn't believe Susan until after we got out here and I figured out that it was you that submitted my CV for this job," David said.

"I didn't submit your CV," House said.

David was in the process of taking a bite when House said that. He paused for a moment and then finished his bite, "You didn't have my CV sent directly to the university president?"

"Nope," House said.

"What about your furniture?" David asked.

"I didn't do that either," House said. "The fact that you had it here was as much a surprise to me as it was to you when they unloaded it from the moving truck."

Susan walked in from the back room having finished feeding Billy and put him in his swing. "Well, I guess we're having fajitas for dinner."

"This is just an afternoon snack," House said with his mouth full. "What's for dinner?"

"Well, I was planning on spaghetti, but I don't know now," she replied.

"Sounds good to me," House said.

Susan laughed, "Alright, spaghetti it is then. We'll eat a little later than normal." She reached for a tortilla and filled it. "I'm surprised Phillip isn't in here; I could have sworn I heard him come in."

"He took his plate in his room," David explained.

"Oh," Susan said looking over at House. "Don't worry, he'll come around."

House took another bite of his fajita after adding a generous amount of Susan's salsa. "Doesn't matter," House said after he swallowed. He pushed his plate away and got up from the table. He started to the piano, but hesitated for a moment as he passed Billy and pulled on his nose. Billy laughed and reached for House's hand, but he'd already pulled out of reach. House sat down at the piano and began to play. He closed his eyes and was totally immersed allowing his music to express the feelings he could not. Susan got up from the table to start clearing it and David moved to the couch and picked up a book he'd started reading the night before. Phillip came out of his room and took his plate to the sink. The sound of his footsteps as he walked by brought House out of his muse and he opened his eyes. As Phillip put his plate in the sink, House modulated the song to another. Phillip stopped in his tracks and stared at House. His face grew red and he turned and stormed out the front letting the door slam behind him.

The door slamming startled David out of his reading and he stared after Phillip. He put his book down and started to get up and follow, "David?" Susan said getting his attention. "Let him go. He needs to work things through on his own for a while." David nodded, sat back down and picked up his book again.

Susan finished the dishes and slipped to the back room and brought out a few toys. She pulled Billy out of his swing and sat him on the floor and put a few toys in front of him and then sat down across from him, "Why don't you put that donut thing around him so he doesn't have to work so hard to stay sitting up?" David asked.

"Because I want him to work hard," Susan said.

"I don't remember Phillip struggling so much," David said.

"How old was Phillip when he started sitting up?" Susan asked.

"I'm not sure," David said.

"Laura was six months," Susan recalled. "Billy is just five months. I think the fact that he is sitting up at all is pretty good. I'm not worried about the shifting around, he's figuring it out. He's already a lot steadier than he was last week." Billy reached for a plastic block with holes in it and brought it to his mouth.

"Marie never let Phillip put anything in his mouth; every time he'd try she'd take it away and wash it."

"Really - and how did Phillip react to that?" Susan asked.

"At first he just looked surprised, but as he got older he'd get mad. Finally she gave up and let him gnaw on everything. She was getting pretty sick by that point so she didn't have the energy to fight that battle and I didn't think it was that big of deal," David said.

"She was an idiot," came the comment from the piano across the room.

David looked across the room rather annoyed, "She wasn't an idiot; she was trying to keep him healthy."

"It's lucky she died then, she would have ruined his immune system in addition to the genetic condition," House said.

"Greg," Susan said. "There's no reason to be so condescending. She was a new mother and she didn't know any better."

"Hmmph," House said and went back to his playing.

"Don't worry about it Susan, he can't help it if his mother didn't teach him any manners," David said antagonistically.

"She taught me manners," House said stopping playing, "I had more manners thrust at me than you ever had; I just don't give a ….,"

"Greg; please," Susan implored interrupting the expletive. House got up from his piano and walked out the side door of the house. Susan watched him through the window as he walked down the path.

Susan sighed with exasperation, "Great, I have an entire family of pouting boys – except for you little man." She looked back at Billy who had discarded the block and had leaned forward on his arms in the direction of his mother. His legs were tied up under him, but after a bit of squirming he was able to free them and end up on all fours. Susan watched him as he worked his way her direction. He looked up at her and grinned. "Well, come on," Susan said. "You're almost here. David, are you seeing this?"

"Yes," David said watching his youngest work.

A couple more squirms and wiggles and Billy's hand reached his mother's leg. He laughed and squirmed his way into her lap and promptly reached for her nose. Susan laughed and hugged him close, "You're growing up so quick," Susan said. She kissed him on the cheek and blew a raspberry.


	4. Chapter 4

_[AN: A short one today, but another will follow later in the week. I want to thank everybody who has added me to their alert list and/or left a review. I really appreciate the feedback. It's like candy to the carbohydrate addict._

_Specifically, I'd like to address PH as she left a review that I can't reply to: There are three stories including this one that I didn't post in the PPTH Conference Room forum. If you're inclined, you may wish to read those as they go through how Susan dealt with House's 'death' in "A New Life", a transition story to jump start The Susan Chronicles without the influence of the series in "Journey Home" and finally this one that is only partially complete at this point. I'm glad you found me here, because frankly without your reviews early on in "Not Alone", "The Susan Chronicles" would never have continued past the first story.]_

Chapter Four

House didn't go to his place; instead he walked out the main house door and turned off to the north toward the back of the property. He found Phillip sitting on the ground with a lawn mower engine about half assembled. He walked over and watched for a moment before finding something to sit on. Phillip glanced up and then back down at what he was doing. "You lied," Phillip said picking up a small part looking closely at it and setting it back down.

"I do that a lot," House said. "Which lie are you referring to?"

"The biggest one; you're not dead," Phillip said.

"Do you wish I was?"

"No," Phillip said. He picked up the small part again and turned it over examining it closely. After another moment he said, "You hurt mom."

"Don't you mean I hurt you?" House asked.

"You made her think you'd blown up. She cried the whole time Billy was being born. I went to your funeral and I kept staring at that urn wishing you weren't in there. You made me cry. I thought you were dead," Phillip said all of his feelings spilling out.

House noted the switch from _mom_ to _I_ as Phillip blurted out his emotional tirade, "I left a note," he said quietly.

"I didn't see any note," Phillip said.

"It was symbolic."

"Mom said you left your friendship bracelet she made you on Billy's wrist, but I didn't believe her," Phillip explained.

"Is your mom in the habit of lying to you?"

"No, but Dad said she was really upset and he thought she couldn't accept the truth because it hurt too much," Phillip said.

"Your mom has been through a lot of death, she doesn't react that way," House said.

"That's what Laura said, but still…," Phillip trailed off.

"Did you see the bracelet?" House asked.

"No, mom wouldn't show it to me," Phillips said.

"Why?"

"She said I needed to learn to trust her," Phillip said.

"So, you're mad at me because you didn't trust your mom," House said. Phillip shrugged. "I did what I needed to do and I let the people important to me know I was okay. It's not my problem if you didn't believe Susan. You've no reason to be angry with me."

"Except that you lied," Phillip said. "Everybody thought that you died. Even your mom thought you were dead."

"What did I just tell you?" House asked. "Don't you think my mother falls under the 'important to me' category?"

Phillip looked down and lightly nodded.

House got up from where he was seated and started out. Phillip was still staring at the part. As House walked by he touched the bottom of his cane on the side of the motor toward the bottom. Phillip shifted his attention to the motor and saw where the part went and put it in place. "Sometimes you have to quit studying the pieces and look at the whole puzzle." House said and walked away. Phillip stared after him contemplating the double lesson he'd just received, then turned back to his work. By the time House made it back to his place he heard the lawn mower start up and smiled to himself.

MDMDMDMD

David was slicing vegetables for a salad and Susan was making meatballs when House walked back in. He glanced at David and nodded in apology as he walked over to the stove, found a spoon and tasted the sauce Susan had simmering. He started rummaging through her spice rack until he found what he wanted and added it to the sauce. Susan watched him and smiled, "You and Phillip work things out?" she asked having noticed through the window that he had not gone to his place when he left earlier.

House shrugged, "We'll see," he said.

"House, I could use your help if you don't mind," David said, the earlier confrontation forgotten.

"Looks like to me you have everything under control; those tomatoes don't appear to be giving you much grief," House replied smartly.

"Not with this," David said rolling his eyes. "Susan told me that you considered going into physics before you went to medical school and that it is still a big hobby of yours." House nodded. "I have several research proposals on my desk to submit for undergraduate research grants, but we're only allowed to submit one per academic year. If we are awarded the grant, the school can use the money to purchase needed equipment and pay a stipend to two students to do the work. I've narrowed it down to three, but I'd like an outside opinion to help me decide which of the three to approve for submission."

Billy, who had been playing quietly in his playpen, suddenly laughed causing the three adults to look his direction. He picked up a soft plastic block and threw it. It bounced off the side and then off his head before landing on the floor of the playpen. He laughed again and picked up another soft block to throw it, this time he threw it too high and it landed outside the pen. Billy shifted on all fours to move to the block outside the pen, but was blocked by the sides. He voiced his dissatisfaction and David set down his knife and moved to retrieve the block and handed it back to Billy who gave him a big grin. David smiled at him and went back to what he was doing. "So what do you think?"

"Sounds fine," House replied. He walked into the living area, plopped down on the couch and turned on the television.


	5. Chapter 5

_[A/N: I was going to wait until next week, but I decided to give you another one this week. You guys are rapidly catching up to where I'm at in writing the story, so I'll have to slow it down a bit after this. If you choose to leave a review, let me know which day of the week you would prefer for an update and I'll work off of that. Thanks for reading.]_

Chapter Five

The next morning was Sunday. David and Susan were up early getting ready for church. Susan had finished nursing Billy and was dressing him when Phillip knocked on the door, "Are we going out to eat after church?"

"Not today," Susan said. "I'd like to get back home as soon as possible."

"Why?"

"Because Greg's here and I don't want to leave him alone for long periods of time," Susan said.

Phillip looked confused, "But he's spent most of his life alone."

"Yes, but I don't think he wants to be alone right now. If he did, he would have spent all yesterday at his place instead of over here."

"But we're leaving him alone while we go to church," Phillip countered.

"Yes, but since we go to early service, he'll be asleep for the vast majority of the time while we are gone. As a general rule, he's not an early riser," Susan explained. "Finish getting ready and get your breakfast. We're leaving in a half hour." Phillip left the room just as David walked out of their bathroom with a towel wrapped around him. He walked into the closet and started to pull out a suit, but then put it back and pulled out a pair of khaki's and a button down shirt. People were a little more casual in this congregation than they had been in New Jersey, so he didn't feel the need to dress up quite as much.

"You think House will be up by the time we return?" he asked.

"I don't know. Yesterday was a long emotional day, which tends to take a toll on a person. It's possible he may sleep until noon or later. I'm going to leave the side door unlocked for him and put a note on the cabinet before we leave in case he wakes up and wanders over," Susan said.

David came over and put his arms around her, "It was a long emotional day for you too."

Susan sighed into his arms, but kept her eyes on Billy in case he should roll over and work himself off of the bed, "Yes it was. Between Wilson's funeral and helping Greg work through his emotions through the day, by the time we went to bed I was exhausted."

David chuckled quietly, "I think you fell asleep before your head even hit the pillow."

"You better get dressed," Susan said releasing him. She picked Billy up off the bed and headed out of the room toward the front of the house. Soon the family was pulling out of the drive in the SUV since House's bike was parked behind the car.

MDMDMDMD

_Wilson's phone rang. He picked it up and answered it, "Hello?" He listened for a minute, OK thank you."_

_"What was that?" House asked._

_"Nothing," Wilson replied. He grimaced as a wave of pain hit him full force. His face paled even more than it had become normally as the cancer took over his body. House looked at him with concern but knew better than to say anything. "House," he said after the wave passed, "I think it's time to start back."_

_House nodded in agreement, "Okay. When do you want to leave?"_

_"In the morning."_

_The next morning the men got on their bikes and started the journey back to New Jersey. They travelled fairly direct over the next three days, stopping only as necessary for Wilson to rest. House knew that Wilson was in a significant amount of pain, but he was doing his best not to let it show. At night after Wilson fell into exhausted sleep, House would listen to him moan in pain from across the room. House certainly knew pain well and had recently gone through another round of withdrawal as his vicodin ran out. Wilson wasn't licensed in the states they traveled through so he was unable to write him a script for more and being 'dead' meant that House couldn't go get more by conventional means anyway. House had refused to use any of Wilson's meds when they were offered, so it was a drug free House that took Wilson home._

_Mrs. Wilson opened the door to see her son and House standing on the doorstep. She opened her mouth to speak, but instead of hearing her voice, she emitted an annoying ringing sound..._

House's eyes opened as his arm reached out for his phone, "Someone had better be dying," he said automatically before he became fully aware.

"Well I believe I'm actually talking to a living dead man. Does that count?" the woman asked.

"Mom," House acknowledged.

"That's better," Blythe said. "I didn't mean to wake you, son. I thought I'd waited long enough."

"It's okay," House replied bringing himself to a sitting position.

"I hadn't heard from you since you told me you were taking James home. I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm okay," he replied. "Just tired, that's all."

"That's not all," Blyth said, "but I'll let it slide for now. Are you at least taking care of yourself?"

"Yes," House replied.

"And, when can I expect you to visit?" she asked.

"I don't know mom," House said. "I just got to Susan's yesterday. I'm not ready for another trip and I need to maintain a low profile; at least until I figure everything out."

"Don't do anything to cause that sweet girl any grief," Blythe said.

"I won't mom; she's... Well, she's," House started.

"Your half-sister," Blythe finished for him.

"Yeah," House replied. He'd never told her how Susan found him or that he even knew that his dad wasn't his biological dad. Only that she was his lab tech and that she had donated half her liver to him several years ago and he'd become companionable with her and her family.

"You always did favor each other, even when she was little. I always was afraid your dad would figure it out when they came over, but somehow he never did or at least never let on that he knew," Blythe said.

"Just how many secrets have you kept?" House asked.

"Enough to keep you guessing," Blythe said.

"You mean there's more?" House said with some humor in his voice.

"Perhaps," Blythe replied coyly. "I'm serious about seeing you son; after all that has happened I really feel like we need time together. I'll respect your wishes though, whatever you decide."

"We can see each other, I just need a little time," House said.

"I understand; that's fine. I'll call you again next week. I love you son," Blythe said.

"Ditto," House hung up the phone and rubbed his thigh until the pain slacked off somewhat, then stood up and went into the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later House was rummaging through Susan's refrigerator looking for something to eat. He pulled out some left over spaghetti from the evening before and put it in the microwave. He wished he had a beer to wash it down with, but of course being a tea totaling family, there was no alcohol in the house beyond one bottle of cooking wine. He'd have to borrow a car this afternoon and get a few groceries of his own since it was a little difficult to carry groceries on his bike. He'd sold his car to pay for half of his bike and Wilson had paid for the remainder of the cost. Being 'dead', his money was tied up in probate. He knew his mother was working on that end of things being his only 'official' family member, but he'd never bothered to make a will and so everything was tied up in court. It didn't hurt anything where it was at as it was nicely adding interest, but he didn't have access to it either which made him dependent on others. House hated being dependent; he didn't mind taking advantage of others, but he didn't want to be reliant on them. He was quickly going to run out of cash, so he'd have to do something fairly soon.

The microwave sounded and House pulled the dish out and took it to the table. He sat down to eat and found the latest issue of JAMA sitting on the table along with a note saying that they would be back directly after church. He opened the magazine and started reading as he took the first bite. After "breakfast" he put his dish in the sink and then moved over to the couch with the journal and laid back to continue his reading. It wasn't many minutes before his eyes grew heavy and he dozed off with the journal still open and laying on his chest.

_"James dear," his mother said affectionately as she opened the door to find Wilson and House standing on her doorstep. Wilson stepped forward and into his mother's arms. "Let's go inside," she said then looked at House, "It's ok; come on in Gregory," she said when she saw the apprehensive look on his face. Wilson's mom was the only person other than his own mother that called him Gregory and somehow House didn't mind that. After all, Wilson was like a brother, it was only natural that Wilson's mom would be like another mom to him._

_House followed the mother/son couple inside and into the living room where they all sat down. Quickly, Mrs. James got to the point, "How are you feeling dear?" she asked._

_"As good as can be expected," Wilson replied which didn't really tell them anything. He was dying, what else was there to say._

_Wilson's dad spoke up sounding more like Phillip than himself, "Boy, the wind sure does blow all the time around here…"_

House opened his eyes as the door opened. "That it does," David replied.

"Just wait until tornado season," Susan offered. "This is a light breeze compared to that."

"Tornados?" Phillip asked in alarm.

Susan laughed, "Don't worry about it Phillip. We have a storm shelter and if there is anything that news media is actually good for, around here it's the meteorology. They know storms well and can pinpoint locations and paths with remarkable accuracy. We'll know well in advance of any storms heading our way." House sat up from where he'd fallen asleep, "Good morning," Susan said to House.

"I need to borrow your car," House said. David tossed him the keys and House caught them, "and directions to a grocery store."

"Actually," Susan said. "Since you're going, would you mind taking Phillip with you so he can pick out his school supplies before everything gets picked over? School starts next week."

House rolled his eyes impatiently, "Fine," he said to keep up appearances, but underneath he was glad to have the company. What was he afraid of? He'd been alone his whole life. The whole line of thought annoyed him putting a scowl on his face.

Susan was watching Greg and saw the changes in his expression as his mind shifted through the various emotions. All she could do was be there for him and embrace him into the family. He'd come to himself eventually, but it was going to be a long road. She was determined to see him through.

Phillip had gone into his room to change and missed the conversation. He came back out and House motioned to him, "Come on."

"What?" Phillip asked.

"Mommy wants us to go shopping together," he said mockingly.

Phillip grinned at House's demeanor, "Okay."

"Wait a minute," Susan said going to her purse. She pulled out a pre-paid credit card she had bought for the purpose and handed it to Phillip. "There is two hundred dollars on this card which should be enough to buy you a decent back pack and all your supplies. Anything left on it; you can keep, but make sure you buy _everything_ on your list." House and Phillip walked out the door leaving David, Susan and Billy alone.

"Two hundred dollars Susan? That seems like an awful lot for school supplies," David said.

"You are kidding right?" Susan asked. "The back pack alone will cost between $50 and $75 for one that won't fall apart in three months. He has to have a binder for every class along with several folders, paper, paper towels, pens, pencils, erasers, wide ruled paper, Kleenexes, colored pencils, etc. It adds up fast. How much did you spend in New Jersey?"

"Well, actually my mother always took care of that, so I'm not sure. I gave her $50 every year, so if it's really that expensive then she spent a lot more and didn't tell me," David said. "So will $200 be enough?"

"If he uses his head, yes; if he thinks about what he's doing and doesn't buy the specialty folders and fancy supplies and goes with the plain boring stuff, he'll probably have $20 or $30 left at the end," Susan explained.

"Subtle teaching tool," David said.

"I thought so," Susan said.

"And what was the point of sending him with House, especially seeing as how you'll be going into town tomorrow to take him to football practice in the morning," David asked.

"Convenience mostly," Susan said, "but I don't think Greg really wanted to go by himself anyway. He's anxious and his demeanor when I asked him to take Phillip along is just an act. However, tomorrow, Billy goes for a well-baby exam and another round of immunizations while Phillip is at practice. I don't want to take a stinky preteen and a fussy baby shopping."

"Good point. Speaking of fussy babies, how much longer do you think he'll sleep?" David asked.

"I don't know; maybe an hour. Why?"

"And Phillip and House will be gone for at least an hour," David said.

"Why do I get the feeling you have plans for the next hour or so?" Susan said as David closed the gap between them.


	6. Chapter 6

_[AN: Here's another update for the week. I've decided that Tuesday will be my primary update day, but I'll probably get impatient with myself and upload extras here and there.]_

Chapter Six

"Turn left at this corner," Phillip said.

"You won't go to school back that way?" House asked pointing off to the right toward the larger town.

"No, dad's university is there, but my school is in Red Sands," he said pointing the other direction. "Grandma and grandpa are going to live there too. They've already bought their house, but they haven't moved yet." House turned left toward the town of Red Sands and within 10 minutes they pulled into the "city limits" if you could call it that. They passed by the junior high which to House seemed rather large considering the size of the town. "Mom says that the school district consolidated the junior and high school students from several towns close by, but each town has their own elementary school," Phillip said when House made the comment.

House continued to follow Phillip's directions until they pulled onto Main Street where there were a number of small shops including a hardware store, a stationary and office supply store, several clothing stores and a diner. Down the street House could see a larger grocery store and a feed store. The supercenters hadn't made it to this town or Main Street would be nearly vacant with only a few small business owners barely hanging on. As it was, this small town was bustling with activity though many of the shops were closed since it was Sunday. The stationary shop was open with a large sign out front advertising special hours for the "Before School Rush". House and Phillip walked into the store and looked around. Immediately to their left was a stand that held the school supply lists for every grade. Phillip pulled a sheet from the 7th grade slot and started looking it over. House found a place to sit down, "Go for it kid," he said and pulled out his phone to play a game. Phillip shrugged his shoulders and headed toward the carts.

"I don't recognize you," the shop owner said as she came over to where House was sitting. "Have you and your son been here long?"

"He's not mine and no," House said keeping his eyes fixated on his game.

Soon it became apparent to the store keeper that the conversation had stopped in its tracks, "Well, let me know if you need anything," she said and moved off to help another customer.

Thirty minutes later Phillip was done collecting his supplies and wheeled his cart to where House was sitting, "I'm done," he said.

House looked in the cart at the pile of school supplies, "Ok, go check out. I'll wait here."

Phillip made his way to the counter and started the checkout process. It wasn't long before House heard him call him, "Uncle Greg?" He looked up from his game and saw Phillip motioning him over. He got up and went over to the checkout stand, "Mom didn't give me enough money," he said.

"She said there was $200 on that card," House replied.

"Yeah, but this is almost $250," Phillip said. "Can you give me another $50?"

"Nope," House said.

"What am I going to do?" Phillip asked. "Mom said I have to get everything on my list."

House looked at the items on the counter and then back at Phillip, "Your mom gave you $200 which she obviously felt was enough. It seems to me you have some decisions to make," he said. He looked over at the store owner who cancelled the transaction and put the supplies back in the cart. Phillip turned the cart around and went back to the school supply section.

House glanced at the store keeper who was smiling, "Your wife is a good teacher," she said.

House rolled his eyes, "And you jump to too many conclusions," he said. "He might have called me 'uncle' because I'm actually his uncle." He turned around and went back his seat. As soon as he sat down his phone rang, "What?" he said.

"How did he do?" Susan asked.

"He did exactly what you thought he would do. He's starting over," House said.

Susan laughed, "Okay. How much longer do you think you guys will be? Lunch will be ready in just under an hour."

"We'll be there," he said and hung up. Phillip came back around with his cart full of supplies, but this time House noted that there were a lot more plain looking supplies and the backpack was downgraded. House picked up the backpack and looked it over. It was still decent quality but wasn't as big and didn't have as many pockets and hiding places. "Okay, finish up." He watched Phillip check out and this time the total was less than $200. He handed the credit card to the store owner who completed the transaction and handed the card back with the receipt. Phillip did the math and figured out that he had $23.17 left over on the card. He put the card in his pocket, grabbed the bags and followed House outside.

After a trip to the grocery store where House picked up a few essentials such as bread, peanut butter, canned soup and beer they headed back, "I'm sorry I got mad at you," Phillip said while staring out the window.

"It's fine," House said.

"How did you know that song?" Phillip said.

"I know a lot of songs," House said.

"No, how did you know that was the song that I've been working on?" Phillip said.

"Laura left me a note," House replied.

"Was it symbolic too?" Phillip asked.

House smirked, "No, it was a real note."

"What did it say?" Phillip asked.

"Among other things what song you were working on and where you were having the most difficulty," House replied.

"What other things?" Phillip prodded.

"Other things that are none of your concern," House said.

Phillip was quiet for a moment, "Will you help me with it?" He glanced over at House who glanced back and then focused back on the road.

"Not right now," House said. He drove for another half mile, "Next week."

Phillip smiled, "Thanks."

They'd covered about another mile when in the distance they saw a man putting a lot of junk out next to the road, "Oh, that reminds me, I'm supposed to take some trash out by our mailbox today," Phillip said.

"Why?" House asked.

"The county is having a 'big trash day" where we can put stuff we need to get rid of out by the road and they will take it to the dump. They're coming by our place tomorrow. Mom want me to take out some of the things left over from the move that she couldn't break down and take to the recycling center.

"So this stuff is all trash?" House asked.

"Yeah, why?" Phillip said.

"Look in his pile," House said. Phillip looked at the pile. The man had put in his pile an old lawn mower among other things. House pulled over to the side of the road and got out of the car. The man was bringing more stuff out to the side of the road and looked up at House and Phillip as they crossed the road. "What's wrong with the lawn mower?" House asked.

"I don't know. I can't get it to start and I'm tired of messing with it, so I bought a new one. The wife's been hounding me to get it out of the garage."

"Phillip, go get that lawn mower and put it in the back," House said.

Phillip moved to get the lawn mower, "Hey, you can't just take it," he said.

"Why not?" House said. "You're putting it out with the trash. Why do you care if we take it instead of the garbage collector?"

"I guess I don't," the man said. "Take it."

Phillip took the lawn mower and put in the back and walked back over to the pile. He thought he'd seen something else he might be interested in. He quickly found what he was looking for, "Hey mister, can I have this too?"

"Take it," he answered.

House looked over at Phillip and smirked as Phillip took his prize to the car and loaded it in the back.

"We don't need another lawn mower," Phillip said. "The one we have works fine and I can fix it if it breaks."

"I expect you can and I expect you can fix this one too," House said.

"Why do I want to fix a lawn mower that nobody wants?" Phillip asked.

"How do you know nobody wants it?" House asked.

Phillip grinned, "Ok, so we pick up old lawn mowers, fix them and sell them again. Are you fixing them too or am I doing all the work?"

"I'll help when you get stuck," House said.

"How do we split the profit?" Phillip asked.

"Fifty-fifty sounds good to me," House said.

"Not if I'm doing most of the work," Phillip said. "Sixty-forty and for that you have to help me find the old lawn mowers and help fix them when I need it."

House said, "As long as all the parts come out of your money."

"No," Phillip said. "We take the cost of the parts out of the profit and split what is left."

House smirked to himself. The kid was too smart to fall for that one, "Fine."

They pulled into the drive and Phillip hopped out of the car. He removed the lawn mower and his other prize from the back and pushed them down to the pole barn. Susan came outside holding Billy just as Phillip headed down the path. "Where's he going?"

House shrugged and took his bag of groceries to his place.

House joined the family for a late lunch and afterwards he and Phillip hooked up the flatbed trailer that David had just purchased to bring home fencing and other heavy supplies to Susan's SUV and took off without saying a word. Susan watched them as they pulled out, "What do you suppose those two are up to?" Susan asked.

David came up behind and put his arms around her, "No idea," he said. "But I'm glad that Phillip has gotten past his anger. Whatever it is they are doing, Phillip was sure excited about it. He could hardly sit still during lunch."

Three hours later Billy was down for his nap and David was watching a pre-season football game, well watching and snoozing through a football game. Susan was browsing through a gardening magazine and jotting down ideas for the vegetable garden next spring when she heard House pull up outside. She got up from her seat and walked outside to see Phillip and House unloading three lawn mowers from the trailer, "Where did you get those?" Susan asked.

"From the trash," Phillip said.

Susan lifted her eyebrows and watched as Phillip pushing one with one hand and pulling another with the other hand. House finished unloading the third and then got back into the vehicle to back the trailer where David kept it stored. While he was doing that Phillip returned for the last lawn mower, "Are you going to tell me what you are doing?" Susan asked already having surmised the answer, but wanting to hear it from him anyway.

"People were throwing these away. I'm going to fix them and then sell them and then Uncle Greg and I are going to split the profit," he explained.

"I see," said Susan. "Just don't turn our property into a salvage yard."

"What about a salvage yard?" David asked coming outside to see what was going on. Susan explained to David what House and Phillip were up to. "Oh, well knock yourself out," he said.

Susan turned to look at him, "Knock yourself out?" she asked.

"It's an expression I've heard some people say around here. It means to go ahead." he said.

"I know what it means," Susan said. "I'm just surprised to hear you say it."

"When in Rome," David said grinning. "That's fine son, I don't care - but don't be surprised if it takes a while to sell them. It's nearing the end of the growing season and most people won't need their lawn mowers much longer. Next spring you'll have an easier time to sell them."

House and Phillip spent the rest of the afternoon and into the evening down at the barn checking to see what was wrong with the lawn mowers. Over the course of the evening, Susan heard two of them start up, leaving two as yet un-repaired. She assumed Phillip would have to get parts for them and hoped he had enough cash left to do it. This was his venture and would be a great learning experience for him and it was good for her brother to have something to keep him occupied. He bored so easily, she knew this wouldn't last long, but it would work for now.

MDMDMDMDMD

_Wilson was napping on the couch while House watched a baseball game when the door bell sounded. Wilson's parents were out shopping for more supplies that would be needed as Wilson's condition worsened. Over the last two weeks Wilson had declined rapidly and was a mere shell of what he was even a month prior. House got up from his seat and made his way to the door. He opened it to find a young man with a newspaper folded open to the classifieds, "I'm here about the motorcycle you have for sale. I called about two hours ago," he said._

_"We don't have a motorcycle for sale," House said and started to close the door._

_"Wait," Wilson called from the living room. He got up and made his way to the door and walked outside. "It's in the garage," he said and walked around the front of the house. House followed them outside and helped Wilson open the door when he realized that Wilson didn't have the strength to lift the door open. Inside were the two motorcycles he and Wilson had ridden on their cross country trip. "This is the one for sale," he said pointing to his._

_"I'd like to start it up and listen to the engine," the young man said. Wilson put the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life._

_"It's only six months old," Wilson said_

_"Lot of miles for only six months," the young man said looking at the odometer._

_"We've been traveling along the east and southern coasts and have only returned a couple of weeks ago," Wilson said._

_"Wow, I wish I could take off work that long to go traveling," the young man said._

_"So, find a way to give yourself cancer and you can do the same thing," House said speaking up._

_"Oh, I'm sorry," the man said looking at Wilson, "I didn't know. So how much do you want to sell it for?"_

_Wilson and the young man haggled on the price which was eventually agreed upon. The man paid cash for the motorcycle. Wilson gave him the keys and signed over the title. When that was complete, he handed the cash to House, "Here, take it."_

_"No," House said._

_"I'm not taking no for an answer House," Wilson said. "I don't need the cash, you do. You're dead, remember? You can't get to your money and you can't use credit cards. You have to have cash and it's not like I can take it with me." He pushed the money in House's hands, "Take it. Please."_

_House took the money._

House woke up, it was still dark outside and he glanced over at his clock. It was 3:30 in the morning, a mere two hours since the last time he had looked at his clock. He wanted to go over to Susan's, but he didn't want to disturb her this early in the morning. He was disgusted with himself for being so needy, but there it was. Hopefully the anxiousness would go away soon. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed and massaged his thigh and then got up. He decided a hot bath was in order and made his way to his bathroom.


	7. Chapter 7

_[AN: It's Monday in fic-land and probably the true beginning to House's journey back. Depending on how far along I get, I may post another chapter later in the week. For now, enjoy this and if you don't mind – tell me what you think.]_

Chapter Seven

The next morning was a flurry of activity. David had an early meeting at the University, so was out the door by 6:30am to allow for the 40 minute drive in to the office. Phillip's football practice dropped from two-a-days to one practice per day since school would start on Wednesday, but because of the heat the coaches decided to practice early morning instead of the afternoon. He had to be there dressed and ready by 8am and Billy's well baby check was at 8:30. House walked in through the side door just as Phillip was bringing his equipment out of his room to take to Susan's car. He walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup and watched Phillip walk out the front door. Susan walked in from the back where she had been getting Billy dressed and his diaper bag put together, "You're up early," she said. "How are you this morning? Did you sleep well?"

"Fine and no," House said taking a sip of his coffee. "How long are you going to be gone?"

"Probably until noon," Susan answered. House suddenly looked lost confirming Susan's suspicion that he didn't want to be alone, so Susan casually asked, "Would you like to come along? Though I have to warn you, it's likely to be boring."

"I'll come," House said. He walked out of the house and was back within a few minutes.

Soon Phillip was getting out of the car and heading to practice. Susan watched him run inside the gate before she pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the doctor's office.

MDMDMDDM

There were two other patients in the waiting room of the doctor's office when Susan arrived with House and Billy. Susan handed Billy to House and then went to the front desk to check in. House glanced around at the occupants and found a seat against the wall as far from the obviously ill woman as possible and held on to Billy who had spied a toy on the floor and was trying to get down. A little girl that House estimated to be just under three got up from the children's table where she'd been working on a puzzle, "What's your baby's name?" she asked.

"William," House replied not interested in explaining the complexity of uncles and nephews to a preschooler. "How come he here? He don't look sick."

"Neither do you, why are you here?" House asked.

"I come with mama; she sick," the little girl said as she pointed to her mother at the end of the row.

House glanced over at the mother who was obviously suffering from some sort of respiratory infection. The woman coughed and House immediately diagnosed her with pneumonia. He glanced over at the older woman across from her who House decided was in the early stages of congestive heart failure and grimaced.

"Sally, come back over here and leave the man alone," the mother said finishing her statement with another coughing fit which made House wonder where the lab was in this town or did everything have to be sent off somewhere else.

Sally started to move away, "You gots a pretty baby," she said before she went back to sit by her mother.

Susan finished checking in and came over to sit in the corner by House. Seeing that Billy was trying to reach one of the toys on the floor, Susan pulled out one of his toys from his diaper bag and handed it to him. "I see you don't play by the same rules here as you do at home," House said.

"Nope," Susan said. "Playing with toys off the floor at home is a little different than playing with toys off the floor where dozens of other sick kids have had their hands, snot, and who knows what other disgusting things. I'm sure the toys are washed fairly regularly but I'd just as soon not take a chance. Not yet anyway. He'll have plenty of opportunity to develop his immune system."

A woman walked in holding her three year old by the hand, House's eyebrows lifted in surprise, "You don't see that as often these days," he said.

Susan turned around, "hmm," she said. "No you don't."

"You've had them haven't you?" House asked.

"Yep," Susan said.

"Has he had the immunization yet?" House asked.

"Not that one," Susan said. "I don't think he gets varicella until twelve months."

"He may not need it," House said as the woman sat down between pneumonia lady and Susan. The little boy sat on the chair next to his mother and started scratching his arm.

"Quit scratching," his mother admonished and tried to pull his hand away from his arm. The little boy cried out in frustration and got up off of his chair and went to play with the toys scratching as he went.

"Most kids are immunized these days, where'd he pick up the chicken pox?" Susan asked.

"Chicken pox?"

"Yes, chicken pox. Where'd he get it?" House asked.

"We don't have any chickens," the lady said. "It's not chicken pox."

House rolled his eyes, "You're a moron. It's the chicken pox and he's extremely contagious. He shouldn't be here or anywhere for that matter."

"It's just a rash, but he won't quit scratching it. So I came to get a cream from the doctor," she said.

"It's chicken pox. Get him out of here and take him home," House said. He grabbed a piece of scrap paper from the side table next to him and wrote something. "Go to the pharmacy and pick up this lotion. It's over the counter, you don't need a prescription - but leave him at home with somebody when you go."

"What do you know, are you a doctor?" the lady asked indignantly.

"Actually, yeah - now get out of here before he infects the baby or the old lady," he ordered. "And don't give him any aspirin."

The old lady looked up toward House and then at the preschooler, "I had chicken pox years ago," she said. "I'll be okay."

"You're immune compromised, you could be re-infected. For that matter, you need to move away from Miss Pneumonia," House said.

Pneumonia lady looked over at House, "It's just bronchitis." She broke down coughing again and the old lady shifted seats closer to Susan.

The lady with chicken pox boy got up dragging her little boy along and went over to the receptionist counter to complain and pointed over at House. The receptionist looked over toward House and Susan and then glanced down at the little boy. Her eyes went wide and she quickly left her desk and ushered the woman with her little boy out of the waiting area and inside.

"Just two days and you're already causing a ruckus," Susan said quietly to House.

"It's what I do best," he said.

The nurse opened the door and called a woman's name. Pneumonia lady got up and walked in with her daughter following close behind.

The older lady looked over at House and Susan. House was still holding Billy in his lap while Billy was playing and mouthing the toy Susan had given him. She glanced back at Susan, "How old is your son?"

"Almost six months," Susan answered.

"Do you have any other children?" she asked.

"Two," Susan said.

"What about you, do you have any children?" she asked House.

"No," House said.

"That's too bad; you're obviously very good with them. Though not so good with adults," she said.

"Just not the stupid ones," House said.

"I'm curious," Susan said. "How do you know that the baby isn't his?"

"He has the same eyes as the both of you, but he doesn't favor either of you - and you two favor each other. Babies usually favor the father. He's your brother," she said nodding over to House, "but I'm fairly sure you only share one parent."

"I'm impressed," Susan said.

House narrowed his eyes to look at her more closely, "I know you," he said.

"No, we've never met. I would remember you," she said.

"I've seen you somewhere," House said.

"Medical conference possibly," the lady said referring back to his earlier conversation with chicken pox mom. "Before I retired I was a geneticist and spoke on a regular basis."

"What's your name?" House asked.

"Collins," she replied, "Margery Collins."

House lifted his eyebrows but didn't say any more. Susan hadn't heard of Margery Collins, but obviously the name was familiar to Greg. She decided to ask him about her later.

The nurse opened the door and called for William James. Susan got up from her chair and turned to House to get Billy, "Do you want to go in or wait here?"

"I'll wait here," he said.

Susan walked inside the exam room and the nurse shut the door behind her. She could hear the patient in the next room talking to the doctor. She'd have to keep that in mind in the future so that she didn't speak too loudly, "I know it's just bronchitis," the lady said, "but the man in the waiting room said I had pneumonia."

"OK, well I need to listen," the doctor said.

"I can't have pneumonia, because I can't afford to stay home from work," she said.

"If only all illnesses would stay away because of that reason," the doctor said sarcastically. "I won't know what it is until I can listen," the doctor repeated.

"But if I miss work, then I won't be able to make my rent," the lady said.

"You know, it's really hard to hear when you keep talking," he said with some exasperation to his voice. "Please be quiet for a moment."

"I'm already losing time at work by having to come in for this. Just give me an antibiotic and I'll go back to work," the lady said.

"Shut up!" the doctor said.

Susan smiled to herself, "I can only imagine what your uncle would say to the lady at this point," she said to Billy. Billy reached up to grab her nose, missed and grabbed her lips instead. He pulled and then laughed at her face when he moved her lips. Susan smiled causing him to lose grip and then reached and tugged lightly on his lower lip in response. Billy thought that was hilarious and found his mother's lip again. Susan pulled him closer and kissed his forehead, "So now you're moving to lips," she said. "You'll have the entire face figured out in no time."

"Well, he's right, you have pneumonia," the doctor said through the wall. "I'm writing you a note for two weeks off of work and two prescriptions you need to get filled today. We're going to try to treat this at home for a few days and if there is no improvement I'll have to send you over to Westland Memorial. I want you back here on Thursday. The nurse will be back in a moment to help you set all that up.

"But what about…?" the lady started before breaking downing yet another coughing fit. Susan heard the door open and close then some mumbling between the doctor and the nurse in the hall

Two minutes later the door to the exam room opened and the doctor walked in. He looked like he was in his early 50's, "You have a HIPPA violation," Susan said quietly.

"Oh?" he asked. "How's that?"

"You can hear quite well through this wall," she said pointing to the wall in question.

"We've only just opened this room today to see patients. I bought this practice six months ago and the previous doctor used this room for storage. I guess now I know why. I'll see to getting that issue fixed this afternoon. Do you want to change rooms? He asked.

"No, this is just a well-baby exam, so nothing remarkably confidential," Susan said.

The doctor reached for Billy and set him on the exam table keeping hold of him so he didn't fall off, "I haven't seen him yet, so I assume you've just moved here." He said.

"Almost two months ago," Susan confirmed. "He'd just had his 3 month exam when we moved." She pulled his medical records out of the diaper bag and put them on the exam table behind Billy. "He hasn't had any major issues; one ear infection. He's up to date on all his immunizations."

"He eats well," the doctor said as he tickled Billy's double chin, "is he on any solid food?" the doctor asked.

"Not yet," Susan answered.

"Well, go ahead - start with rice cereal diluted with your milk," the doctor said. "Give him a few weeks on that before you switch to oatmeal. Save wheat for last and then you can start with vegetables. I'll have the nurse give you a pamphlet that will outline how and when to introduce the new foods. I'd like you to continue nursing him for a while longer. It isn't absolutely necessary anymore as he's gotten all the antibodies he needs from you at this point, but I like to encourage my mother's to continue the practice for the first full year and then put them straight on whole milk. He'll taper off on his own as he starts to eat more solid food allowing you to gradually wean him." The doctor finished his exam, "He's perfectly healthy," he said handing Billy back to Susan. "He's a little heavy in the 75th percentile on weight and 60th in height but I'm not worried about it at this stage."

Susan nodded, "My daughter was pudgy as well when she was a baby."

"The nurse will be in shortly with his next round of immunizations and those pamphlets and we'll see him again at nine months," the doctor said. With that he left the room and went to his next patient. The nurse followed shortly with the immunizations and soon Susan was carrying a crying Billy out into the waiting room.

When she opened the door to the waiting room, the population had exploded. The office was now full of people. No wonder the doctor had seemed in such a hurry. She glanced over at Greg who was watching a young girl and picked up the scrap paper pad and started writing. He saw Susan walk into the waiting room and stood up. As he passed by the mother of the little girl, he handed her the piece of paper and said something to her. He met Susan and together they walked out of the office.

"What was that all about?" Susan asked when they got to the parking lot.

"She has more problems than her mother thinks she does," House said. "I suggested a test."

MDMDMDMDMD

David returned to his office after the staff meeting and started working on his notes for lecture. At this university, he would still be responsible for teaching one class even though he was dean of arts and sciences. He didn't mind at all as he enjoyed teaching at this level. He would be responsible for one senior level course in his specialty. He looked at his roster; he only had five students enrolled. At least he'd be able to remember all their names. At PPTH Academic, his class sizes had been so large there was no way he could keep up with all of his students. Of course he had been relegated to teaching entry level chemistry where the enrollment was higher. The further up in level, the classes were the fewer students enrolled. He'd been a department head, but he'd had to leave the upper level classes to those with more seniority and tenure as his dean had insisted. David hoped the politics didn't play as large a role here. So far he hadn't gotten that impression.

His admin knocked on the door, "Dr. James, I just signed for a package for your wife."

"My wife?" David asked.

"That's what it says," she said handing it over.

Sure enough the package was addressed to Susan James % David James, PhD at Westland University. David set it on his desk without opening it, "I'll take it home this afternoon. Oh Diane, I almost forgot; would you please make copies of those three physics proposals I'm debating about? I'd like to take them home tonight as well."

"Sure," Diane replied and walked out of his office. David returned to his lecture notes.

MDMDMDMDMD

The doctor was listening to the bowel sounds of the little girl, "The diarrhea hasn't subsided at all?"

"No," the mother replied. "I've started putting her back in diapers to keep from messing up all her clothes."

He looked at the patient's records left behind by the previous physician. Most of the ailments were fairly typical, ear infections, bronchitis, refusing to eat, but what was interesting was that she had been having issues with diarrhea since she was weaned. "What is she eating? Does she eat balanced meals?" the doctor asked. "How much sugar does she eat?"

"I'm not really sure," the mother said. "I'm so busy with the that the older two pretty much fend for themselves."

The doctor stared incomprehensibly at the mother, "Who would know what she is eating?" he asked.

"Her sister probably," the mother said.

"And, how old is her sister?" he asked.

"Five," the mother said.

"So, you have a five year old and a three year old taking care of themselves, while you take care of the baby," he confirmed.

"He takes a lot of attention being retarded and all," she said.

"Retarded," he repeated amazed that she was so blunt in her description. "Have you thought about getting a nanny?" he asked.

"Now, how am I supposed to afford a nanny on what I'm paid," she said. "I'm lucky to get enough money to buy groceries much less pay for a nanny."

The little girl moaned and turned to her side as a sickening aroma emitted from her body as her bowels evacuated uncontrollably. The doctor slipped on a pair of gloves and turned back to the child, "Sweetheart, I need to look at your bottom," he said as he unfastened the diaper. "Do you have a spare diaper with you?" The mother pulled a diaper out of the bag and handed it to the doctor. "Where are your other two children?" he asked.

"At home," she answered.

"Who's watching them?" he asked as he cleaned the little girl's bottom. She was covered in rash from the constant exposure to bowel.

"My daughter is taking care of the baby," she said.

"Your five year old is babysitting a developmentally disabled baby," the doctor clarified.

"Sure," she said. "She does really well with him."

"I want you to stay real still sweetheart. I'm going to get something out of the cabinet for your bottom," he said. He turned and reached into the cabinet for a cream for her rash and while he was there, he pushed a button that would call the nurse to the room. He turned around and started applying the cream. Before he was finished, the door opened and the nurse came inside, "Would you please call Shirley for me and let her know that we need to reschedule her appointment for this afternoon." He looked at his watch, "Tell her to be here in an hour."

The nurse looked a little confused, but she realized that there must be an issue with this particular patient because he was talking in code. Shirley was the local officer for child protective services. Her office wasn't in this town however, but in Westland, between the hospital and the University. It would take her nearly an hour to get here. "Sure," the nurse said and walked out the door.

The doctor put her diaper back on the little girl and lifted her to a sitting position. He removed his gloves and washed his hands and then proceeded with his examination. As he worked, his brow furrowed. Her abdomen was distended, but her other vitals were normal. "I need to do some testing and would like to keep her here this afternoon," he said. "I have a special room she can stay in and I'll have my assistant stay with her for the day."

Not surprisingly the mother didn't mind at all, "Ok," she said and started to walk out the door. She put her hand in her pocket to get her keys and felt the note inside. "Oh, that other doctor in the waiting room told me to give you this note," she said handing him the note and then was gone.

_Other doctor?_ He thought to himself. This was his third patient this morning that had alluded to another doctor in the waiting room. He opened the note and read it; it simply said "add CRP". Well, he was going to do blood work anyway; he may as well add CRP to the list of tests. It wouldn't hurt, but he had to wonder who the guy was and what he was thinking. First on the agenda, pull the blood and call the hospital lab courier for a stat pickup. Then he would see to his other patients and start working on finding this mysterious waiting room doctor.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"Is there a library in this town?" House asked as Susan pulled out of the parking lot.

"I'm not sure," Susan said. "I haven't had a lot of time to look around, but we do have electronic access to the University Library through David. If it's not available electronically, we can check it out and David can pick it up and bring it home."

"That'll work," House said.

Susan glanced at the dashboard clock. Phillip would be getting done with practice in a half hour so she headed over to the school, "What are you looking for?" she asked.

"A small engine repair guide," he said. "Phillip needs to get a few parts for two of the mowers. He's pretty good at figuring out what goes where and how it all works together, but he doesn't know what anything is called or what is actually going on inside the engine."

"You might have more luck at the Vo-Tech book store. I'd be surprised to find any books like that at the University, though I suppose there could be," Susan said.

"So where is the Vo-Tech book store?" House asked. Susan glanced at him and grinned. She opened her mouth to speak, "Don't," House interrupted. "That was a stupid question. Where is the Vo-Tech?"

"Across from the high school," Susan said. "We can stop by after we pick up Phillip from practice if you like."

House reached down to the radio and turned it on. He scanned through the various stations hitting country station after country station, "Isn't there anything else around here?" he asked.

"Not much," Susan replied. "Country is by far the most common, there are a couple of talk stations. I caught a classic rock station once, but I haven't been able to get it again."

"Maybe you should invest in satellite radio," House said.

"I've thought about it, but I'm not in the car that much," Susan said. She pulled into the school parking lot to wait for Phillip to get out of practice. It wasn't many minutes before he came dragging across the parking lot to the car carrying his shoulder pads and shirt over his shoulder like a Santa carrying his pack. He was covered in sweat and dirt, "On second thought, maybe we should go to the Vo-tech later," she said, "when he's not so sweaty."

"A little sweat never hurt anybody," House said. Phillip made it to the car, opened the door and threw his pads in the back. He climbed in and plopped down in the back seat. Instantly the vehicle was overcome with the aroma of sweaty pubescent boy. Billy, long since having settled down from his immunization experience wailed out noisily and pulled at his nose. "Nevermind," House said rolling down his window for some fresh air. "Let's just get home." Susan laughed and pulled out of the parking lot.

MDMDMDMDMD

Shirley hung up the phone and got up from her desk. She walked across the hall into her manager's office, "I just got off the phone with Dr. Christian's office in Red Sands," she said. "I need to go check out a situation."

"What's the problem?" her manager asked.

"I'm not sure just yet, his nurse said that the doctor asked her to call me and tell me that he needed to move our appointment to this afternoon and to be there in an hour. We didn't have an appointment, and it'll take me about an hour to get there. She said that the doctor must have suspected an issue with the patient he was seeing at the time because he was talking to her in a way not to raise suspicions."

The manager looked at her watch, "You better get a move on," she said. "Keep me updated."

Shirley left the office and grabbed her briefcase and purse and headed to her assigned car.

MDMDMDMDMD

Susan was nearly to the intersection she needed to turn to get home when a dark car sped past, "Wow, she's in a hurry," Phillip said. "She's lucky the highway patrol don't monitor this highway very often."

"Doesn't," corrected Susan.

"Ok, _doesn't_ monitor this highway very often," Phillip said rolling his eyes.

"She wouldn't need to worry about it," House said looking behind through the side mirror, "That car screams 'official state agency'."

Susan made the turn and continued home.

MDMDMDMDMDMD

Shirley pulled in to the doctor's office and made her way inside. She noted the full waiting room and stood in line at the receptionist desk. "Shirley Morrow to see Dr. Christian," she said handing her card to the receptionist. The receptionist took the card, called the nurse and handed it to her. Shirley found a seat and had just sat down when the nurse called her back and escorted her to the doctor's office.

"Dr. Christian will be in here shortly, he's with a patient," she said. "There's fresh coffee on the credenza; please feel free to help yourself." She left Shirley alone in the office and moved on to her next patient.

Shirley looked around the office and moved to one wall that exhibited a number of wildlife photos taken by the doctor himself. The centerpiece photo was a shot of a very nice looking 12 point buck that her brother would be drooling over. Surrounding that photo were several others of a mother deer and her fawn, a squirrel, a raccoon and several birds including a scissor tail and a red-tailed hawk. "I have a blind set up on my property," a voice said behind her. Shirley jumped. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," the doctor said. "Anyway, that's how I've gotten those shots. I have a blind set up and I spend my early Saturday mornings hiding in it and shooting wildlife."

"They're very nice photos," she said. "I came as quickly as I could," she said getting to business. "The message seemed rather urgent."

"I saw a 3 year old this morning with chronic diarrhea that she has had since she was weaned. Her buttock is covered in severe rash and when quizzing the mother, I learned that she has two other children, 5 and less than a year; the baby is developmentally disabled. She left the baby with the 5 year old to bring this one to the office," he said. "Additionally, she couldn't tell me anything about the eating habits of this little girl because she spent so much time taking care of the baby that the older kids pretty much fend for themselves."

Shirley had sat down in one of the office chairs and started taking notes, "What do you know about the health of the three year old?"

"Not much yet; I've kept her here in my minor surgery room with an attendant and sent the mother home, which she didn't even balk about," he said. "Her abdomen is distended, but her vitals are all normal. I've ordered several blood tests and I'm also checking her stool for parasites. The hospital lab courier should arrive here any minute to pick up the samples, but I probably won't have any results before tomorrow."

"Had she been seen in this office before?" Shirley asked.

"She has, but not since I bought the practice," he said. "Nothing out of the ordinary other than the diarrhea according to the notes; but I can't help but think that something is severely wrong and the mother is too occupied to pay any attention and the previous doctor was more interested in planning his retirement home."

"Well, she did bring her into the office, so she's seeing something," Shirley said. "Do you see any other signs of abuse?"

"No," he said.

"There may not be anything we can do," she said. "But I will investigate the home situation. In the meantime, how long do you plan on keeping the little girl here?"

"I haven't worked that out," Dr. Christian said. "It just seemed best to get her away from her mother…."

"Dr. Christian!" yelled a voice from the minor surgery room down the hall. Dr. Christian turned on his heel and raced down the hall with Shirley not far behind. The little girl had just vomited and was convulsing on the examination table with the attendant holding on to her to keep her from falling off. Dr. Christian went to the medicines drawer and pulled out an anticonvulsant which he administered to the little girl. Soon she was calming down and falling into sleep. The nurse and the attendant started cleaning the little girl and Dr. Christian turned to Shirley, "Well, that answers your question; I'm transferring her to Westland Memorial for more testing and observation."

"I'll go visit the mother and let her know we're taking her daughter to the hospital and will assess the situation at home while I'm there. I'll call the office and have a child advocate waiting for her when she arrives at the hospital," Shirley said. With that Shirley went back to the doctor's office to gather her things and headed out.

With the patient stabilized and asleep, Dr. Christian went to the front desk and asked the receptionist to call for an ambulance to transfer the child to the hospital. He pulled out his cell phone and spoke to the head of ER at Westland Memorial to inform her of the situation and that the patient would be arriving in a couple of hours allowing for the ambulance to travel to and from Red Sands. "How many more patients do we have today?" he asked the receptionist after he hung up.

"Ten," she answered, "There are two still in the waiting room and then you have an hour break for lunch. Your last appointment is scheduled for 3:00 this afternoon."

The nurse was still busy with the child, so Dr. Christian pulled the chart for the next patient and called her back himself to take her to the exam room, "Go through the early morning patients and tell me who was here during time between my first patient and this little one back here. I want to know who the patients were and who came with them," he told the receptionist before walking back to the exam room. He looked at the chart in his hand, "Mrs. Martinez, how good to see you again," he said as he ushered her inside.


	9. Chapter 9

_[A/N: A short little update for today. Things will start picking up after this. A bit of a side note for you: In the Susan Chronicles, House's relationship with his mother is a little different than it is in many other fanfics. From the series we know that House grew up in an abusive home with his presumed father and this is examined in the Susan Chronicles, but there has never been much mention of the role his mother played in his life. We know from the series that House can't lie to her and that she wanted to pretend that everything was fine; but we also from later in the series that she had her own secrets while House was growing up. In many fanfics I read, Blythe is purposed as a blind fool absorbed in herself; I prefer to think of her as intelligent, but trapped in a life she couldn't escape. Hope you enjoy this little window into previous life.]_

Chapter Nine

House sat on the sofa browsing through the internet on Phillip's laptop, "Your internet connection is a little slow," he said to Susan who was working on her budget for the spring garden while Billy took his afternoon nap.

"It's satellite," Susan said. "The local cable company doesn't run their line out here and dial-up modems are even slower. What are you looking for?"

"Couple of things," he replied.

"Please tell me you're not looking at porn on his computer," Susan said. "I really don't want that in his browser history. We've already had one instance we've had to deal with."

"Can't; you put up a block," House said.

"That you are more than capable of hacking through," Susan said.

House looked up from the screen at her, "Trust me," he said.

"Okay," she replied and went back to her budget.

"Just one?" House asked after a moment. "By his age, I was lifting magazines from the convenience stores on a regular basis."

"Just one that I am aware of," Susan said looking up from her work. "He took advantage of the free movie channels at one of the hotels we stayed at on our way out here. You know what those channels turn into late at night. Laura woke up and caught him and then David and he spent the rest of the night talking."

"Talking? He's lucky David's his father, when my dad caught me the first time he made sure I was covered in bruises from my shoulders down," House said. "Of course, that just made me more determined, but I was a lot more careful about it."

"David isn't like that," Susan said quietly. She sighed and looked up at House, "I'm sorry your dad was; I wish you could have been raised with us."

"I had my mother," House said. "We suffered together when I was little and then when I was older…." He trailed off.

"When you were older what?" Susan asked.

"I made sure he never hit her again," he said not looking at Susan.

Pain crossed Susan's face as she contemplated the environment her brother had grown up in and what he'd done to ensure his dad's focus stayed on him and not on his mother. "Why didn't she leave?" Susan asked quietly.

"Why didn't you?" House asked rhetorically. "You can't fault her for staying when you lived in a similar situation." He paused for a moment when Susan didn't respond knowing that he had made his point, though to be fair, the abuse in Susan's first marriage wasn't physical and it was only directed at her. "Things were different then," House said finally. "She was trapped; she had no skills, no work experience and dad controlled everything. She didn't have a car or any money of her own. He would take her to the grocery store and monitor what she bought. He even had the phone recorded so he could monitor her conversations. It was hell."

"What happened to her after you left home?" Susan asked.

"By that time dad had started to settle down. He'd developed arthritis in his hands and shoulders, probably from beating me so often, but mom had also developed her own sense of protection by that point. She had a daily routine that she followed to the minute that allowed her to keep the house clean to his satisfaction and make sure dinner was exactly on time. If she kept to her schedule, he would never have any reason to go off because everything would be perfect by the time he walked in the door."

"She's doing okay now though?" Susan asked.

House nodded. "The house is paid for and she has his military retirement, so she's fine. She's developed some good friendships and travels around a lot. She's free to be who she is and it suits her."

Susan's phone rang and she picked it up and looked at the caller ID. She didn't recognize the number, although it was local, "Hello? Yes, this is Susan James," she said. She listened for a moment with a confused look on her face and then replied, "Yes, why?" Susan listened further and then hung up the phone. She looked over at House, "What kind of trouble did you cause while I was in the exam room with Billy?"

"Why do you assume I caused any trouble?" House asked.

"_It's what you do best_, is what I recall you saying this morning. That was the receptionist; she asked me if I was with the tall man she saw in the office this morning. She said the doctor wanted to know who all came into the office this morning, patient or otherwise," Susan explained. "So what did you do after I left?"

"_Nothing_," House said with emphasis looking straight into Susan's eyes, "trust me."

Susan eyed him for a moment, "okay," she said finally and turned her attention back to her work.

MDMDMDMDMD

Dr. Christian pulled into the parking lot at the hospital. While he had privileges at the hospital, he wasn't a regular staff member, so he didn't have an assigned parking spot. He got out of his car and walked inside.

He made his way to pediatrics and went to the patient board where he found his patient logged. He went to her room where he found her asleep. Sitting in the visitor's chair was the child advocate assigned to the case. She looked up from her paperwork when he walked in the room. Putting her work aside, she stood up and introduced herself, "She's been asleep almost since they brought her up here," she said.

The doctor looked at her chart. The labs he'd ordered earlier in the day were completed. He noted that most of the basic tests were normal, but for a slight elevation of the leukocytes. He turned the lab report to the next page where CRP was listed, it was also elevated which made him wonder again about the mysterious waiting room doctor. The third page of the lab report indicated no parasitic activity in her stool. The vitals all remained in normal range. "Has she talked to you at all?" he asked the advocate.

She shook her head, "Not a word. In fact she's been largely apathetic. She hasn't responded to any of the hospital staff and doesn't seem afraid at all. Not the typical behavior of a three year old in a hospital away from her parents."

Dr. Christian filed that away in his brain and made a notation in her chart requesting that her food intake be monitored closely to see what she would and would not eat over the course of the evening and ordered glucose monitoring every hour overnight. She was already hooked up to an IV for rehydration. She had to be consistently dehydrated with that much loose stool. Since she wasn't parasitic, the distended belly indicated malnutrition; not surprising considering she was being cared for a by 5 year old. The kid probably lived on a diet of cereal, pop tarts and canned ravioli. That thought led him to think about lactose intolerance, so he added that test to her chart as well as a repeat set of labs for the next morning and walked out the door.

After consultation with the nursing staff he made his way to the doctor's lounge where he browsed through the titles shelved along the bookcases on the far wall. He pulled out a text and sat down in a nearby lounge chair and started perusing. Two other doctors were in the lounge playing pool and a third had come in for a cup of coffee. She saw Dr. Christian and walked over, "I haven't seen you here in a couple months, she said.

"No, Red Sands is a fairly small community and most things I'm able to treat in the office," he replied.

"But not this time," she said sitting down in an adjacent chair.

"No, this time I'm officially stumped. This child has had a chronic case of diarrhea for three years and I've ruled out most of the common causes and will have them all marked off my list by tomorrow morning. At the moment I'm exploring the uncommon causes because I'm fairly sure that tomorrow morning's tests will tell me nothing," he said holding up a gastrointestinal text.

A pager went off and all four doctors checked their pagers. The two playing pool resumed their game and the doctor next to him should up, "Well duty calls," she said, "Good luck with your patient." Dr. Christian nodded and went back to his reading.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

David walked out to his car for his morning commute and saw the package sitting on the passenger seat, along with the three physics proposals he wanted to House to review. Yesterday had been a long day and he'd been late home the evening before. When he pulled into the drive way, his only thought was to get inside, eat and then go to bed. He picked up the package and the physics proposals and walked back inside, "Susan?" he announced when he came back in.

Susan walked out of the bedroom carrying his briefcase, "You forget something?"

David rolled his eyes at himself, "Apparently several things; I left these in the car last night," he said trading the package and papers for the briefcase. "Those are the proposals I asked House to read over this weekend."

"And what is this?" Susan asked having set the papers on the table and holding the package.

"I don't know," David said. "It came to my office yesterday, but it's addressed to you. I forgot all about it by the time I made it home last night." He turned around to head back out, "I need to go or I'm going to be late."

….

House lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. It had been another long and lonely night with his brain going in circles keeping him from getting any sleep. It was still dark outside, but he could hear stirrings in the house next door. He sat up and rubbed his leg to get the circulation moving before he tried to stand. Slowly he lifted himself out of bed and stood for a moment to make sure his leg would hold him before he headed off to the bathroom. He heard the front door of the main house bang shut and then two minutes later bang shut again. Curious, he glanced out the kitchen window and saw David walk out to his car to leave for work. He must have forgotten something the first time and went back in to get it.

….

Susan looked at the return address on the package; it was a New Jersey address, but there wasn't a name associated with it. She went to her miscellaneous junk drawer and pulled out a letter opener and opened the package. Inside was a thick folder full of paperwork. She started to open the folder when Billy woke up fussing. She turned around and walked to the back room putting the folder on the bed as she passed by on her way to the crib, "Hey little man, why are you crying?" She picked him and held him on her shoulder and immediately realized why he was crying. He was feverish to the touch. She carried him in her bathroom and rummaged through the medicine drawer for a thermometer. She put the sensor in his ear and he tried to squirm away, "Hey now," she said. "This is easy; when I was your age you wouldn't believe where they were putting the thermometers." The thermometer beeped and Susan looked at the result, 101°F _[A/N: 38°C for my non-American readers]_. "You must be reacting to your immunizations," she said. She rummaged around the medicine drawer again and found the infant acetaminophen. She dosed him with the medication and then took him back into the bedroom to change him and feed him. She decided to hold off on feeding him any cereal this morning until his fever subsided. Susan climbed back in the bed, propped herself against the headboard and started nursing. She'd just switched sides when she heard a soft knock on her door. She reached behind her on the post of the bed and draped a baby blanket over her and Billy and then told Phillip he could come in. Phillip walked in the room and sat on the end of the bed, "What's up?" Susan asked.

"I was wondering if I could have $5," Phillip asked.

"Why?" Susan asked.

"Today is our last morning practice before school starts and the coach was going to take us all to the pizzeria afterwards. He said we all needed to bring five dollars," Phillip explained. At that moment Billy coughed and Susan pulled him away. As she did so, he threw up all over her, her nightshirt and his blanket.

"Gross," Phillip said. "That's a lot more than normal."

Billy gagged again soaking more of the bed clothes, "This isn't spit up, he's not feeling well," Susan said. As if to emphasize the point Billy started crying, "Phillip would you go get me a towel and a wet wash cloth please?" Susan laid Billy on the bed and got up to remove her t-shirt, "Shhh; it's okay sweetie," she said to Billy. We'll get to you all fixed up."

Phillip walked back in the bedroom to see the back of his mom's naked torso and stopped in his tracks not knowing what to do next. Susan heard him walk in and stop, "Just set it on the bed," she said without turning around "I'll be out in a little while." Phillip sat the requested items on the end of the bed and turned to leave.

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The water was hot as House grabbed the thoughtfully installed handicapped bar and lowered into the oversized Jacuzzi bath. He wondered if Susan had adapted the bathroom for him or if the guest house was originally prepared for handicapped usage. Everything looked original, so he concluded that this house must have been originally built with the occupants in mind. Not much of a puzzle there. He settled back and closed his eyes as the warmth soaked through his skin to the damaged muscle underneath.

_House walked in from the guest room to the living room where the hospital bed had been set up so that Wilson wouldn't feel isolated from the rest. The IV was running and a secondary bag of morphine was piggy-backed onto the IV. Wilson had access to the dosage button which would allow him to give himself a dose whenever the pain became unbearable. He was doing his best not to use it too much as he wanted to stay cognizant as long as possible. "You know, it's ok to allow yourself to sleep," House said as he checked Wilson's vitals._

_"I don't want to miss anything," he said. "Besides, I did sleep some last night."_

_"You've been awake since three this morning," House said._

_"As apparently have you," said Wilson with a smirk._

_"Touché," House said._

_"Has your mom had any success getting your assets out of probate?" Wilson asked._

_"No," House said._

_"You need more money," Wilson said._

_"I can take care of myself," House said. He moved over to the couch and turned on the television._

_"I can't believe you didn't have a will," Wilson said._

_"Why do something today when you can put it off to tomorrow?" House said. "You're getting boring Wilson."_

_"Excuse me for boring you with important things like your continued survival after I'm gone," Wilson replied. "Turn the TV up so I can hear."_

_House was quiet while they watched 'Ellen', but after a few moments he said, "Don't worry about me Wilson; I'll be okay."_

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Thirty minutes later Susan emerged from the bedroom freshly showered and dressed with Billy also cleaned up and laying with his head on her shoulder and his thumb in his mouth. She picked up her keys and walked out the side door over to Greg's place.

A still wet and only partially dressed Greg opened the door to see Susan with Billy and stepped aside so she could come inside, "I need a favor," she said.

House eyed her warily, "What?"

"Billy is sick," she started. "It's okay," she emphasized quickly when she saw the instant concern in his eyes as he shifted his gaze to the baby. "I'm sure it's just a reaction to his immunizations." She saw him relax and continued, "Anyway, I was wondering if you would take Phillip to practice this morning? I don't want to drag the baby around in a car when he's not feeling well." House nodded and she handed the keys over. "I really appreciate it," she said.

Susan started to leave, "Wait," House said. He put the keys in his pocket, stepped closer to her, took Billy from her arms and carried him one handed to his sofa and laid him down. "You know where my bag is," he said.

Susan smiled and went to his closet and pulled out his medical bag and brought it over to him, "It just a reaction to the shots," she said.

"I'm the only doctor in this room," he said pulling his stethoscope out of his bag and slipping the earpieces in place.

He finished listening and then pulled out his otoscope and looked in Billy's ears, "Has he been pulling at his ears?" he asked.

"No, but he wasn't too happy with me when I stuck the thermometer in his ear to take his temperature this morning," Susan said.

"It's no wonder," House said. "He has an ear infection." He looked up at Susan, "See; only one of us can play doctor around here."

Susan smiled, "I concede," she said then looked at her son. "That came on quickly," Susan said with her forehead screwed up. "He just had his well-baby exam yesterday and the doctor didn't say anything."

"Probably missed the early signs," House said. "Not everybody is as good as I am."

Susan shook her head in humor as she picked up the baby to go back to the main house, "I'll go see if I can get an appointment."

"Don't bother, I'll take care of it," House said. Susan turned back to look at him with some confusion.

"How…?" she started.

"Trust me," House said. Susan nodded and continued back to the house.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Shirley sat at her desk filling out a report from her site visit to Dr. Christian's patient's home the day before. She'd gone straight over to the house after she left the doctor's office and knocked on the door, "Mrs. Williams," she started.

"Miss," she answered, "Who are you?"

"_Miss._ Williams, I'm Shirley Morrow with the Department of Human Services," she said handing the mother her card. "I'd like to talk to you about your three year-old daughter. May I come in?" The mother glared at her with suspicion, but stepped aside to let her in. Shirley took a glance around the house. It was very small and cluttered, but not particularly dirty. The baby, who clearly had Down's syndrome, was sitting in a swing and the five year old was sitting in front of the television watching Sponge Bob and eating a pop tart. "I need to let you know that we admitted your daughter to the hospital today. Her condition worsened at the doctor's office and Dr. Christian thought it would be best for her to be monitored on a twenty-four hour basis."

"So, why are you here and why didn't he call me?" the mother asked.

"I was in the area and told him I would come by and let you know, but while I'm here I have some paperwork for you to sign. Since you're not with your daughter currently, I've assigned a child advocate to stay with her while she's in the hospital. I need you to sign temporary custody to the child advocate until you can get to the hospital. I'm sure that it will take some time to find somebody to watch your other children."

"There's nobody I can find," she said.

"What about their fathers?" Shirley asked. It was readily apparent that each child had a different father.

"No," she answered.

"You don't have any other family that could help?" she asked.

"None that I want anything to do with or them to do anything with my kids," she said.

"Okay," Shirley said. She fished in her briefcase and pulled out a form. "How long do you think it will be before you can get to the hospital to be with your daughter?"

The mother looked at both of her children; she knew if the DHS lady knew she left her baby with the five year old that all her kids would all be taken away from her, "I don't guess I can right now."

"Well, then it would be best for your daughter to have the advocate take temporary custody until she is released from the hospital and can come home," Shirley said handing over the form.

"I guess so," she said. She took the form and the pen and signed the bottom of the form releasing custody to the advocate. "If you would give me your phone number, we'll stay in contact with you to keep you updated, and you can always reach me at the number on the card."

She left shortly after and thought about the situation all the way back to the office. Now in her office the next morning writing her report, she knew this was a bad situation and the mother risked losing her children. Shirley's report emphasized that the children did not seem in the least distressed and there were no signs of abuse. The house was a little unkempt but not dirty. The mother was obviously uneducated, but that didn't make her a bad mother. She was in a bad situation with no family to help her. Shirley wrote a little more and then put her pen down. She turned to her computer and started a background check on the mother to see if she was in the system anywhere, and a search for the birth certificates for the children to see if any of the fathers were listed. Deep inside Shirley felt that the mother was a good mother, but completely overwhelmed and out of her depth with one very sick little girl and a mentally handicapped baby. She probably wasn't getting any child support and was more than likely on welfare. Shirley would do a thorough investigation and see what could be done.

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Phillip followed House out to the car and put his equipment in back. He sat in the front seat as House got in the driver's side and pulled out of the drive. Phillip sat quietly watching the terrain pass, "You're quieter than normal; not that I'm complaining." House observed. Phillip didn't answer, so House probed a little deeper, "What's up?" Phillip shook his head. "Okay fine," House said. He reached for the radio to turn it on when Phillip spoke up.

"I saw mom naked," Phillip said keeping his head turned away.

House's eyebrows went up, "completely naked?"

"No, she had her underwear on, but she didn't have on a shirt or a bra," Phillip said.

House didn't say anything and let Phillip continue at his own pace, "Billy threw up on her and I went to get her a towel and a wash cloth and when I came back in the room she didn't have her shirt on."

"So you saw her boobs," House said. "Saw my mom's once by accident; it was traumatic."

"Not really, her back was to me, but I could still see the side of one," Phillip said.

"So basically you just saw her back," House said. "Well, then what are you freaking out about?"

"I don't know, it just seems wrong," Phillip said. "I've never seen her without clothes. She doesn't even wear a swim suit in public. We went to the lake once and she had shorts and a t-shirt on over her swim suit and never took them off."

"Susan is very modest," House said. "Still though, it was just her back. You wouldn't want her to stay in a shirt covered with puke would you?"

"No, I just didn't know what to do and I just stood there staring. It was like I was frozen or something," Phillip said obviously embarrassed.

"What did she do?" House asked.

"She just told me to put the stuff on the end of the bed and she would be out in a little while," Phillip said.

"And?" House asked.

"So I did and I left. Do you think she's mad at me?" Phillip asked.

"I think if she was mad at you, you would know it. Just try to forget about it and be glad you didn't see more than just her back," House said shuddering at the memory of seeing his own mother so many years ago.

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"Hey," Susan said when David answered the phone.

"Hey back," he answered smiling. "To what do I owe this welcome interruption to my morning?"

"A couple of things - first Billy is sick with an ear infection. He's running a fever and can't hold anything down and second, I think I traumatized Phillip this morning."

"Okay, how do you know it's an ear infection; have you already been to the doctor this morning?" David asked.

"Sorta, we live with one; Greg diagnosed him and told me not to bother with an appointment that he would take care of it," Susan said.

"So that issue is resolving," David said not even questioning how House was going to take care of an infection without being able to prescribe anything. "What happened with Phillip?"

"Well, Billy had just lost his breakfast all over me and I sent Phillip to get me a towel and a wet wash cloth. I got up off the bed and pulled my night shirt off and had turned back toward Billy on the bed when Phillip came back in with the towel. He stopped in his tracks in the middle of the room and didn't come any further until I told him to set the stuff on the end of the bed and that I would be out in a little while. That got him moving again, but when I came out of the room afterwards he wouldn't even look at me and would only answer questions yes or no."

David started laughing, "I walked in on my mom once and had a similar reaction. He'll be alright once he gets past the embarrassment. Just don't make a big deal out of it and it'll eventually be forgotten….well, for the most part. Seeing your mom even partially naked isn't something you easily forget." David heard Billy start to cry in the background. Susan said she needed to go and disconnected. David hung up his phone then shook his head trying to remove the memory of his chance encounter with his mother.

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House walked into the doctor's office forgoing the receptionist desk and went straight through waiting room to the entrance of the examination area, "Sir, you can't just…"

House ignored her as he walked down the hall opening door after door to find the doctor, "What kind of clinic is this? Where's the doctor?" he said finally opening the door at the end of the hall and finding Dr. Christian sitting at his desk in his office. "I need a script for amoxicillin suspension, 20 pound baby, ear infection." Dr. Christian stared at the man in his doorway with his mouth agape. "Come on man, I don't have all day," House said.

Dr. Christian stood up, "Greg House," he said. House eyed him suspiciously. "We were in immunology together in med school," he said. "I sat behind you."

"Great, you know who I am," House said. "Start writing," he said pointing to the script pad sitting on the desk.

Dr. Christian sat back down and started writing the script, "Patient's name?"

"William James," House said.

He stopped writing and looked up, "I just saw him yesterday; he didn't have an ear infection."

"He does now," House said. "Along with accompanying fever, vomiting and general displeasure with anything and everything around him."

"I should see him," Dr. Christian said.

"I already have; just write the script," House said.

Dr. Christian finished writing the script and stood up to hand it to House, "I heard you died."

"Obviously you heard wrong," House replied.

"There was an editorial article about you in the _Journal of Medical Scientists_," the doctor said outstretching his arm with the script in his hand.

House didn't react to the article but took the script and started out the door. He stopped after a step and turned back, "What was the result?"

"What result?"

"The CRP, what was it?"

"Slightly elevated, along with the leukocytes," the doctor said.

House stared into space for a moment staring at the white board in his mind of the symptoms he saw plus the added blood tests. His eyes re-focused and he looked directly at Dr. Christian, "What have you tested for?"

"Parasites, lactose intolerance, and vitamin deficiencies to start with," he answered.

"You're looking for horses – start looking for zebras," House said.

"Any thoughts?" Dr. Christian asked.

"Cystic Fibrosis, Celiac disease, Crohn disease, various malsorptions, endocrine diseases." House answered. "What meds has she been on?"

"None," Dr. Christian said. "And I can't get a dietary history because the mother hasn't been paying attention. The older 5 year old sister has been feeding her which is why I'm looking at vitamin deficiencies."

"A vitamin deficiency wouldn't account for the increased leukocytes," House said. "Run cultures to rule out infections and start testing for the rest." With that House walked out the door and was gone.

Dr. Christian went back to his desk and sat down, _Well, at least I know who the mysterious waiting room doctor is_, he thought to himself. _Greg House; who would have thought?_ He picked up the phone and called the hospital to order the cultures, tests and biopsies for the other tests on House's list.


	12. Chapter 12

_[A/N: This is a rather longish chapter and one of my favorites so far. I'd really like to know what you think if you care to leave a note.]_

Chapter Twelve

House left the doctor's office and went next door to the pharmacy where he dropped off the prescription at the counter then perused the shelves while the pharmacist filled the script. By the time the pharmacist called for William James, House had his left arm loaded with a pediatric electrolyte replacement, infant's ibuprofen and more infant acetaminophen. He paid cash for the items and went back out to the car. He looked at his watch, there was still three hours before the end of football practice and then they were going out to pizza. House decided to go back to the property even though Susan would argue against it for the sake of efficiency. It was a 25 minute drive to town, so Susan preferred to get everything done in town at one time rather than making multiple trips. But babies spiked fevers quickly and he knew she had dosed Billy with acetaminophen two hours ago and wouldn't be able to give him more for two more hours. She needed the ibuprofen as a counter dose at two hours and Billy needed to get started on the antibiotic. He pulled off of Main Street and turned onto the highway to head back home.

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Billy was inconsolable and his fever had spiked despite the medicine. Susan didn't have any infant ibuprofen at the moment and admonished herself for not being better prepared. She stripped him down to his birthday suit, pulled out his little bathtub and set it on the bathroom countertop. She started a sponge bath to cool him down. He didn't like the cooler water and was shivering and screaming his displeasure, "I'm sorry sweetie, we have to get your temperature down and I can't give you any more of that medicine," she said soothingly with tears in her own eyes. She hated to see him so upset. "Mommy's right here, it'll be okay." She kissed him on his forehead feeling his temperature through her lips. She sponged his head with the water despite his protests. The phone rang in the background; she ignored it and kept working.

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House tossed his phone down in the passenger seat. Susan would have answered if she could; he pressed the accelerator and increased his speed. Sure enough, despite Phillip's earlier assessment that the highway patrol didn't monitor this highway often, one was here today, and soon House heard the siren behind him and saw the lights flashing in his rear view mirror, "Shit," he said and pulled over.

The officer got off his motorcycle and walked to the driver's side window, "Sir, I clocked you at 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. I need your driver's license please."

House fished his wallet out of his pocket, pulled his license and handed it to the officer, maybe he could distract him enough for him not to call in his license number, "My sister's baby is sick and I'm trying to get the medicine home to him," House said holding up the sack from the pharmacy and effecting the most concerned voice that he could muster.

"Well, Mr. House, the very few minutes you would save by speeding would make little difference if any; wait right here," the officer said. He walked back to his bike with House's license in his hand.

House contemplated taking off, but that would only make things worse, if there could be anything worse. As soon as the officer called in his license number his 'low profile' would be over and he would be headed back to jail, "Damn," he said slamming his hand on down on the steering wheel. He couldn't handle jail right now.

The officer came back to his window with a pink slip, a warning; not a ticket, "Mr. House, since you're obviously a visitor to this state and you're trying to help your sister's baby, I'm going to give you a warning for now. Please slow down and be safe," he said handing his license back to House. House nodded his thanks and resumed his trip home with his heart beating 100 miles an hour from the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

The officer watched him take off and head down the highway. Something was odd about that guy, the look on his face shifted from fear to shocked relief when he gave him the warning instead of the ticket. This wasn't an uncommon reaction, but the officer couldn't help but think there was more to it. He looked down at his ticket book at the name and license number. It was a New Jersey license and it was current. He decided he would check into it when he got back to the station. He got on his bike and turned around to go back to the spot he'd chosen to clock the drivers.

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Susan put the thermometer back in Billy's ear; his temperature had fallen two degrees, so she pulled him out of the tub and held him close speaking to him soothingly as he continued to cry. She heard the door open and close and then the familiar step, thump that was her brother as he made his way to the back of the house to the master bathroom.

House noted the bathtub and the thermometer lying on the counter, "How high?" he asked.

"104," Susan said. "He's back to 102 now," she said.

House opened the package from the pharmacy and dosed him with the antibiotic and then the ibuprofen while Susan held him. Slowly Billy settled down and quit crying, exhaustion taking over from the entire episode and lay his head back on Susan's shoulder. He put his thumb in his mouth and closed his eyes as Susan cuddled him against her. House watched the pair for a moment and then slipped quietly out of the room.

Susan was sopped from putting a very wet baby against her without a towel or anything wrapped around him. She softly went into the bedroom and laid Billy down on the end of the bed and retrieved a fresh diaper. She decided to leave the rest of his clothes off of him so his body would cool better, but dried him gently with a soft towel. She stood up and looked around the room. It was a mess. Her night shirt and the bedclothes he'd soiled earlier in the morning were in a piled heap on the floor; the folder she'd received this morning was still sitting on the bed unread; Billy's crib needed changed out and the bathroom was a mess. She glanced out the door and back and Billy. Decision made, she picked up Billy and went to the front of the house. House was in the kitchen rummaging around for a bottle to put the pediatric electrolyte replacement into, "Where are your bottles?" he asked when she walked in carrying Billy.

"In the cabinet with the cups and glasses," she said, "right over the dishwasher."

House moved to the designated cabinet and found a four ounce bottle, "You don't have very many," he said. "Cuddy had a ton of them in her cabinets even though Rachel had long since moved to a cup by the time we got together," he said.

"I nurse. I don't need that many," she said.

House nodded, "Yeah," he said pouring the liquid into the bottle. He started to hand it over to Susan but she shook her head. "He needs to drink something Susan; he's dehydrated."

"I know. That's not what I meant," Susan said. "Would you mind holding him for a while and giving it to him when he wakes up? I really need to clean up his mess from this morning."

House glanced back and forth at Susan and Billy and then nodded. He moved over to David's recliner and sat down. Susan followed behind and when House had settled, she put Billy in his arms and left the room. She returned a moment later with a fresh towel and a damp wash cloth and set them on the side table next to him, "Just in case," she said quietly and then moved to the back of the house.

House looked at the sleeping baby in his arms, "You better not," he said quietly. "Tossing your cookies on your uncle is _not_ the way to get on his good side."

Susan pulled the rest of the sheets off the bed and as she did so, the folder she'd received this morning fell off to the floor scattering its contents around the floor. The noise caught her attention and she moved to the end of the bed to pick up the mess. As she gathered the material to put back in the folder, she noticed a letter in an envelope addressed to her. She stopped gathering all the papers and sat on the floor leaned against the bed and opened the letter. "Dearest Susan….."

Billy opened his eyes and looked up at House who was watching television. He straightened out his arm toward his face and House looked down, "Oh, you're awake. Here, drink," he said reaching for the bottle and slipping the nipple in Billy's mouth. Billy took the bottle with enthusiasm and after drinking 2 ounces, House removed the bottle to make sure that Billy would be able to hold it down. He didn't feel as warm, so the fever was dropping from the dose of ibuprofen. He lifted Billy up so that he was lying on his shoulder and then kicked the recliner back and stretched out. Soon both Billy and House were asleep.

Susan finished reading the letter and folded it and put in back in the envelope. She wiped her eyes from the tears that had gathered there and then got up from the floor. She took the folder with its contents into David's office and put it in the top desk drawer. She needed to talk to David about it before she approached her brother. She turned out of the office and went toward the living room. Greg was laid back on the recliner asleep with Billy lying on his shoulder with his thumb in his mouth, also asleep. Greg's hand was gently placed on Billy's back to keep him in place as they slept. She smiled at the sight and hurried back to her room to get her camera. This was not going without being duly recorded. She came back and discreetly took the shot and went back to finish her work.

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A couple of hours later Susan's phone rang, "Mom?" Phillip asked when she answered. "Uncle Greg isn't here," he said.

"Oh!" Susan said, "No, he came back home to help with Billy. I'll be there as quickly as I can," She started to hang up when she heard Phillip tell her to wait and heard somebody talking to him.

"It's okay mom, the coach is going to Westland this afternoon and he said he could drop me off on the way there," Phillip said.

"Let me talk to him," Susan said. She heard the phone shift from one person to the other.

"Hello?" the coach said.

"Are you sure that's okay?" she asked.

"Yes, it's fine. I have to go to Westland to pick up some equipment that was accidently delivered to the high school there instead of here. I don't mind dropping Phillip off on the way. He told me that his baby brother is ill," the coach said.

"Yes, he's been running a fever all day. I can't thank you enough, I'm not usually this out of sorts," Susan said.

"Not a problem at all. I know how difficult taking care of a sick baby is," he said. "I'll have Phillip home in a couple of hours. He can help me in the equipment room before we leave," he said.

"Okay," Susan said. "Thank you again. Can I talk to Phillip again please?" The coach handed the phone back to Phillip. "Phillip, be sure to thank your coach and do whatever he asks you without complaining."

"Yes ma'am," Phillip said. "I'll see you later."

Susan ended the call and went back to work.

MDMDMDMDMD

The officer pulled into the station and parked his bike. He took off his helmet and set it on the seat and opened the saddle pack and pulled out his ticket pad. He walked inside and sat down at a computer to start processing the tickets for the day. He only had three tickets to process through. He hadn't tried to hide, so most people saw him in plenty of time to slow down which was really the point. Unlike what a lot of people thought, he didn't have a quota of tickets he was supposed to get in a month. His job was to keep people safe and if seeing him would slow them down, he'd done his job. He turned on the computer and as it was booting up, he opened the ticket pad and rifled through the three tickets and two warning pages. Finally his computer finished booting up and he turned back to the first ticket of the day. He entered the information into the system and turned the page. He worked through them one at a time and finally got to the last one, _Oh yeah, that guy from New Jersey with the sick baby_, he thought to himself. He entered the information into the system and started the search, just for the sake of curiosity. Since it was out of state, it would take a while to pull the information from the New Jersey department of motor vehicles. "Hey Tom," another officer hollered from the doorway, "We've got an accident," he said and turned to leave. Tom got up from his desk in a hurry accidently knocking his ticket book off the desk and into the trash. Two minutes later, the search completed and a copy of the driver's license of Gregory House came on the screen with the word "Deceased" in red lettering over the top of the image. Three minutes later the monitor screen went black as the computer moved into power saving mode.

MDMDMDMDMDMD

David walked out of his office building and made his way to the car. He pulled out his phone and called Susan. "How's Billy?" he asked.

"Better," Susan said.

"Greg was able to get him the antibiotic he needed and they've been napping together off and on most of the afternoon," Susan said.

"Really," David said with some surprise. "He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to cuddle a baby."

"Normally I would agree," Susan said. "Whatever the reason, he's been a big help and I've been able to put things back together. I also need to talk to you about that package," Susan said.

"What was it?" David asked.

"I haven't gone through all of it yet, but there was a letter in it – it was from Wilson," Susan said.

MDMDMDMD

In the front room Billy finally woke up and raised up on his hands at looked at his Uncle's face. He reached out his hand and grabbed House's bottom lip and pulled startling House awake, "What?" he said opening his eyes and staring into a very big pair of blue eyes. Billy grinned and House smirked. He sat up and gradually worked his way to a standing position keeping hold of the chair to keep him balanced until he was sure his leg wouldn't give way. He grabbed his cane and walked to the back of the house where Susan had finished her conversation with David and was folding laundry. "I've done my duty," he said handing Billy to Susan and walked out the door.

Susan smiled at his back, "Thank you," she said. House grunted in response as he disappeared down the hall. She turned her attention to Billy who was making a grab for his source of food, "Hang on little one; let's get you another dose of your medicine first. She dosed him and then thankfully sat down in the rocking chair to nurse. He hadn't eaten since the morning hours when he'd thrown up and as a result she was engorged and very uncomfortable.

MDMDMDMDMDMD

The afternoon was turning to evening when Tom pulled back into the station along with the other officers that had worked the accident. It had been a bad one between a big rig and a pick-up truck. The man in the pick-up was dead and the driver of the big rig was devastated even though the accident had been unavoidable from his side of things. The driver of the pick-up had been drinking and had pulled in front of the truck. The truck had side swiped the pick-up, flipped it over sending it flying into the guard rails. There was nothing the truck driver could have done; He was driving highway speeds and the momentum made it impossible for him to stop at that distance although he had tried. The truck was jack-knifed over both lanes of the highway backing up traffic for miles. It had taken nearly every highway patrol officer in the station to manage and safely re-route the traffic while the emergency workers saw to the needs of the victims, "Are you going back inside?" one of the other officers asked.

"No, I'm exhausted. I'm going home," Tom said. He moved to his personal car, got inside and left.

MDMDMDMDMDMD

The evening was uneventful in the James household once everybody made it home. Phillip finally walked in even later than David. He went straight to the restroom when he came inside having not had a restroom break for the four hours it took him to get home. When he did finally emerged, he told them about the accident between the big rig and the pick-up and that the coach had to circle all the way around to the next highway which took them into Westland and then detoured back around to get to their road. Billy interjected from time to time with his own babble of conversation which was dutifully responded to by all the members of the family, except House who listened to all, but kept silent. Finally he got up and went to his place next door.

MDMDMDMDMD

The night custodian came through the office to sweep and empty the trash cans of the patrol station. He moved from desk to desk eventually coming to Officer Tom's desk. He lifted the can and noticed the ticket book in the trash. He pulled it out; he hadn't seen anybody throw one of these away before. He shrugged his shoulder and threw it in with the rest of the trash. He finished his work and locked the door behind him. This had been his last office room to clean, so he made his way to the basement where large containers of trash were stored. He emptied his can into the containers and locked the top. A document destruction company would be by early in the morning to pick up the containers for incineration. Having completed his work, the custodian clocked out and went home.

The room was dark and at 2am, the Officer Tom's monitor came to life showing again the image of House's driver's license. A message window popped up, "System re-boot in 30 seconds". Thirty seconds later all the computers in the station left running shut down for the nightly server update, effectively erasing all evidence of the inquiry.


	13. Chapter 13

_[AN: I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas. As promised, here is your Tuesday chapter. It's a little short and if I can I'll put up another one on Friday. If you are so inclined, leave a review and let me know what you think.]_

Chapter Thirteen

_House walked into the front room to see Mr. and Mrs. Wilson standing next to the bed. Wilson was speaking to them softly. Mrs. Wilson was holding his hand with one hand and caressing the top of the same hand with her other. Mr. Wilson had his hand on Wilson's shoulder as they listened to what he was saying. House couldn't hear the conversation but watched for a moment and then moved into the kitchen. He'd just poured himself a cup of coffee when Mrs. Wilson walked in, "There isn't much more time is there?" she asked her eyes glistening. House shook his head. "It's just so hard; parents aren't supposed to lose their children no matter how old they are," she said with tears in her eyes. House didn't have a response and so he said nothing. He walked passed her, putting his hand on her shoulder as he passed._

House woke up and stared at the ceiling. The fan was on and he watched as the blades turned. He'd never had any reason to have a ceiling fan before, but in this god-forsaken country it was necessary. Even with the air-conditioning running it was still stifling. He glanced over at the clock – three am. He was glad he'd rested this afternoon with Billy. In fact, he'd rested so well he didn't have any of the memory dreams that were keeping him up most of the night. He didn't know if it was pure exhaustion or if there was some physiological process going on when holding a sleeping baby. He was half tempted to sneak into Susan's room and take Billy just to test his theory.

He sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed, massaging the damaged muscle and willing it to cooperate as he stood up and limped to the bathroom. Once finished, he wandered into the living room and turned on his television. As he suspected, Susan had opted out of the movie channels. He smiled to himself remembering the conversation they'd had about Phillip's foray into porn at the hotel. He settled on an old classic horror movie and was soon listening to the voice of Vincent Price in _House on Haunted Hill_.

MDMDMDMDMD

Susan lay awake watching the ceiling fan turn and listened to the soft snoring of her husband sleeping next to her. So far she'd managed about three hours of sleep; but Wilson's letter kept running through her mind. He'd really poured out his heart in that letter – almost as if he was absolving himself of his past sins; especially as it related to Greg. It gave her an insight into their friendship that she'd never had before. It was beyond mere friendship. The men were truly bonded as brothers. She had wondered why Greg had latched on so tightly to Wilson and now realized that Wilson was probably the first person, other than his mother, who truly understood and accepted him as he was and Susan realized that Greg had not only lost his best friend, he'd lost a piece of himself when Wilson died.

She heard Billy rustle around in his crib, so she quietly got up, slipped on her robe over her night shirt and padded over to him. He wasn't quite awake, but he would be soon. She reached down in the crib and touched his skin with the back of her hand. He was still a little warm so before he was fully awake she went into their bathroom and pulled up a dose of acetaminophen and another dose of his antibiotic and set them on the cabinet. By the time she returned to the crib, he'd rolled over and opened his eyes. When he saw his mother he reached out his arms toward her and she picked him up and held him close. Together they went to the bathroom where she gave him his medicine and then she quietly left the room.

MDMDMDMD

The soft light from a single lamp came on in the front room of the main house. The light through his window caught House's attention out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to get a better look and saw Susan and Billy's silhouetted profile through the curtains lower into the couch. He couldn't see any other movement, so he turned off his television and got up from his seat. He started to open his door and then stopped and looked down at himself. He'd discarded his sleep pants for boxers to keep him cooler in this heat. He turned around and went to his bedroom and found a pair of sleep pants and put them on before heading over to the main house.

Susan heard the side door open and close as her brother entered the house. She adjusted her robe so she was less exposed while Billy nursed and turned her head toward House as he made his way to the front room, "You probably should lock your door," he said when he came in.

"The front door is locked," she said. He sat down in David's recliner and lifted the foot rest. "I want you to be able to come and go as you please."

"So, give me a key," he answered.

"You have one," she said. "Both houses operate off of the same key. But it's a pain to have to carry your keys with you all the time," she said. "I'm thinking about installing a key pad for the side door."

Billy finished nursing one side and Susan switched him to the other. House averted his eyes for the transition until Susan finished adjusting her clothing, "You know if you didn't nurse you could give David night duty from time to time."

"Yes, but then I'd miss the quiet times like this," Susan said. "David often gets up with me though," Susan said. "I haven't been able to sleep tonight anyway, so I left the room before he realized we were up."

"Why can't you sleep?" House asked.

"I can't quiet my mind," Susan said. She was quiet for a moment, "I've been thinking about Wilson." House didn't respond but was clearly waiting for more information. "I got a long letter from him yesterday," she said. "He told me a lot of things that happened between you, him and Cuddy over the years. Anyway…..I had no idea."

"Yesterday?" House asked.

"He sent it, or rather must have left instructions for it to be sent, to the University. David brought it home to me," Susan explained.

House nodded in understanding. "He was feeling guilty," House said, "confessing his sins."

"I guess," Susan said. "He was worried about you."

"He always was such a girl," House said. He reached over and picked up the remote to the television and turned it on keeping the volume down low. He flipped the channel a few times until he found a space documentary and then set the remote down. Billy finished nursing and so Susan held him over her shoulder until he fell back asleep while the two adults sat in silence watching the show. "He had no reason to be feeling guilty," House said after a while.

Susan didn't agree given what she had read, but she said nothing. She knew firsthand how difficult her brother could be, but there was no question that Wilson and Cuddy had both failed in their role as a friend over the years. Still though, if her brother didn't hold any grudges against Wilson, she didn't have the right to either. His attitude only solidified her new understanding of their relationship.

"Did you ever hear anything from Cuddy before the fire?" Susan asked.

"No," House said.

"Did Wilson?" Susan asked.

"Don't know; don't care," he replied with a finality that told Susan to drop the subject. Obviously this subject was still touchy which meant that he hadn't processed through the pain of that event in his life either. She wondered about Dominique, but decided it probably wasn't a good idea to ask that either at the moment. She did need to ask one question related to Dominique, but it would wait.

The show ended and another started. Susan yawned finally feeling tired enough to rest. She glanced at the clock above the fireplace; it was 4am and David would be getting up in an hour and a half to get ready for work. She moved to get up, "I think I'm going to lie down for a while," she said. "You can stay here as long as you like," she said. House said nothing, so she got up and left the room still carrying Billy who was sound asleep.

House watched her walk down the hall to her room and turned his head back toward the television. As he did so, he saw the three physics proposals David had referred to earlier sitting on the side table next to the recliner. He reached over and picked one up and started perusing through it. He made it about two pages into the proposal before he stopped, "Lame," he said to himself and tossed it aside to pick up the next one.

MDMDMDMDMMD

David's alarm went off and Susan groaned. He rolled over and looked at her, "Did you sleep any last night?"

"Not much," Susan said. "I couldn't get Wilson's letter out of my head."

"It was pretty intense. What are you thinking?" David asked.

"That it's Greg's decision," Susan said. "He needs a little more healing time, and then I'll bring it up to him."

"What about us? Whatever he decides will affect our family," David said.

"I know," Susan said. "What I need to know is what you think?" Susan said.

David was quiet for a moment and then sat up and leaned against the headboard. He put his arm around Susan and brought her close to him, "I think that House is just as much a part of this family as any of the rest of us are and whatever his decision we will stand by him regardless of the consequences."

"Even if it means we're separated for a while?" Susan asked.

David lifted her head toward his and kissed her gently. He pulled away and caressed her face, "I wouldn't like that, but I'll do what is necessary."

"Thank you," Susan said quietly.

David bent to kiss her again, "I love you so much," he said to her softly in her ear. Soon his kisses and declarations evolved into a more physical demonstration and as he knew her he thought to himself that no matter what it took, he would be there for her. If it was important to her, it was important to him.


	14. Chapter 14

_[A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter posted. Yesterday turned out to be rather busy and I never turned on my computer. So, today I'm posting from work and it's turning out to be a rather cruddy work day, so some reviews would go a long way to cheer me up (hint, hint)._

_Anyway, several of you have mentioned wanting to know what was in Wilson's letter and my responses indicated that you would be getting a big hint in this chapter – oops, the hint is further on. Sorry about that. Anyway, Wilson's letter is a big part of the story here and you will get the entire contents. So far you know that he 'confessed his sins' to Susan in regards to his friendship with House; From earlier in this story you know that Wilson asked House to break into the PPTH-Academic to get David's resume and from the previous story you know that House's furniture was anonymously sent along with Susan's furniture to their new home and in this story House confirmed that he did not make those arrangements. More information is forthcoming. For now, here's chapter fourteen. Thanks for reading.]_

Chapter Fourteen

The night before, the pediatric nurse had come into the child's room to remove all sources of food or water, "Leave that," the child advocate said when the nurse picked up the water, "She might get thirsty tonight."

"No," the nurse replied. "Her doctor has scheduled several tests for the morning that requires no food or drink overnight. If she gets thirsty, she'll just have to do without." She looked over at the child who was restless, but asleep. "She'll be fine."

Despite what the nurse had predicted, she woke up thirsty and the child advocate had quite a time settling her down in the middle of the night. Finally, the doctor had been called and he authorized her to have some ice chips, but nothing further after mid-night. That helped and the little girl had drifted back to sleep after about an hour.

MDMDMDMDMD

The sun was just starting to hint at rising when Dr. Christian pulled into the hospital parking lot. He'd left his house an hour before for the drive into town. He could have simply ordered the tests and received the results by phone, but he wanted to be there during the biopsy procedure and to look at the results of the additional blood and stool tests he'd ordered and so had adjusted his patient load at the office so he could be there. As he drove to the hospital, his thoughts centered on medical school at Michigan State where he had known House peripherally. As he had mentioned to House, he had sat behind him in immunology, but he'd been in several classes with him over the course of two years. He remembered House as being bored. He was always acting out, shooting spit balls across the room – with remarkable accuracy he remembered. Amazingly enough, though it didn't look like he was paying attention, he aced all of his exams and his papers always received the highest marks even though his instructors hated him. He remembered being amazed when he was kicked out of school for cheating, though he'd seen him cheat off of the cute underclassman that sat next to him in class. It was obvious that she was in the class just to be near him and she was bright enough; but he didn't need to cheat off of her. In his opinion it was House's way of flirting with her. His thoughts ran to the article about him in JAMS. The article covered his life – as it turned out he'd also been expelled from Johns Hopkins, for cheating, ostensibly to prove the guy was a fraud. This backfired in the other guy's favor, at least at that time, but later House had exposed his research as fraudulent, ruining any further opportunities for grants and prestigious research positions. The school House eventually graduated from wasn't even noted at the time as in the top 100 medical schools across the country. Now however, that particular school did have the distinction of having been the alma mater of Gregory House, MD and after he had established himself as the World's greatest diagnostician, it had seen a significant increase in enrollment and a rise in the ranks of distinguished medical schools. House looked different than what he remembered, but not so different that he didn't recognize him. Of course, he was 25 years older, and there was the cane. The article had mentioned the infarction in his thigh and how that had led to an addiction to pain killers. He wondered if he was on anything now because he sure didn't look to him as if he was on any medication and his limp was very pronounced. He had to be in a lot of pain. The article ended with a description of his death. He'd been caught in a fire in an old warehouse in Princeton and had been unable to escape. As he turned into town he had wondered as thorough as the article was, how on earth had they totally screwed up the matter of his death? He was most obviously alive and well. He shook off his thoughts; he had a patient to take care of. He got out of his car and walked inside.

MDMDMDMDMD

"Phillip, get a move on. You're going to miss the bus," Susan hollered from the kitchen.

"I'm _coming_," he answered. "Keep your pants on."

"Excuse me?" Susan said rather shocked he'd responded to her that way. "I don't think so."

Phillip's face turned red. He glanced at her as he made his way to the table and sat at the end. "What's for breakfast?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"Food," Susan said while putting a bowl of oatmeal in front of him. "Eat."

"Yes ma'am," he answered understanding that the subject wasn't quite finished yet. He reached for the glass of juice in front of him and took a drink. He sat it down and looked at his mom who sat down on side of the table.

"Being disrespectful to me or any other adult is not the way to start your first day of school," Susan said.

"Yes ma'am," Phillip said. "I'm sorry."

Susan got up from the table, "Finish up. The bus is supposed to be at the end of the drive in 20 minutes." Phillip quickly ate his cereal while Susan attended Billy and when he was finished took his bowl and glass to the sink. He grabbed his backpack and football gear and started out the front door. "Do you want us to walk to the bus stop with you?" she asked.

Phillip rolled his eyes, "I'm not in elementary school," he said.

"Of course not," Susan said as she followed him out to the porch. She stopped there and let him continue on his own. About a third of the way down the drive he stopped. He dropped the football gear and trotted back to the porch. "Forget something?"

Phillip went up to Susan and kissed her on the cheek, ruffled Phillip's nearly bald head and then turned around and ran to the end of the drive picking up his football gear on the way.

"Ahhh, wasn't that sweet," House's voice laced with sarcasm came from the side of the porch where he'd been watching the entire display.

"Oh leave him alone," Susan said as she laughed. "He's caught in the awkward spot between kid and teenager; and yes, _I_ think it was sweet." She turned around to walk inside, "Come on in, breakfast is ready."

MDMDMDMDMDMD

David was exiting the classroom to head back to his office when the university president called out from behind him, "David."

David turned around, "Good morning Stan," he answered. He waited for him to catch up and then continued down the hall.

"I was just coming to see you. How was the first day of class?" he asked.

"Not bad. It's a small class, especially compared to what I'm used to, but the students are interactive and seem sharp. I think it'll be a good class," David said.

"That's great," Stan said. "I wanted to find out where you were on those physics proposals." They reached the end of the hall and David opened the door to the outside since his office was in the building next door.

"I've narrowed it down to three so far, but I'd like another day or so to decide," David said.

"Just remember we have to have that turned in by the end of next week. So whichever one you choose, you'll need to do it quickly so that any revisions can be made in time for the submission," he said.

"I think I'll probably finish narrowing it down by this evening," David said. They walked into the building next door and took the stairs up one flight. When they reached the top of the landing, the president was panting from the exertion, "Are you okay?" David asked.

"Yes, just remarkably out of shape," he said. "I need to get back to the gym. I spend too much time sitting in that office. Anyway, the other thing I wanted to ask you was if you and your family were free this Saturday evening. Pauline and I thought we would have all the deans and their families over for a barbeque to help everybody get better acquainted."

"Oh," David said. "I don't know. We have a guest and I'm not…"

"Bring him or her along," Stan said. "The more the merrier."

"Well, I can't make any promises, but I'll ask," David said.

"Fair enough," Stan replied. "I better get back to my office. He turned to leave, "Where's that damn elevator?" he said more to himself than anyone.

David laughed, "It's at the end of the hall."

Stan started that direction and waved over the back of his head, "Thanks."

David walked in his office and sat behind his desk. He reached down for his briefcase and pulled out the three proposals he'd asked House to look over. He'd left them on the side table next to his chair when he went to bed, and when he got up the next morning, they were sitting on the chair itself. He knew that Susan had gotten up during the night and he guessed that House must have come over at that time. At least at some point he had, because he hadn't read the proposals up to when David had gone to bed. It was abundantly clear which proposal House preferred. The one on the bottom of the stack had the word "Lame" written in large letters over the top of the cover page. The second one in the stack had written "Not quite as lame" on it. The top one on the stack simply had written on it, "with changes". David put the "lame" and "not quite as lame" proposals aside and turned to the first page of the only remaining proposal.

MDMDMDMDMD

Shirley walked into the hospital to check on the child advocate and the little girl. She's done a full investigation on the mother and fortunately she wouldn't have to initiate removal of the mother's children. She's spoken with Dr. Christian that morning to get an update on the child. He wasn't any further along than he had been before. He'd ruled out a number of conditions with blood tests and biopsies, but nothing as yet was pinpointing the cause. Then she informed him that she didn't have due cause to remove the children from the mother. Of course he didn't see it that way, but regardless it was always best to leave the family intact unless there was true danger to the children. Dr. Christian argued that the mother was negligent if she was leaving her five year old to care for the other two when she was otherwise occupied. Shirley couldn't fault him for his attitude, but she reminded him that he only had the one interaction with the girl's mother to work from and he needed to let her handle the family situation. His job was to take care of the sick child and hers was to take care of the family. He'd hung up at that point obviously upset and muttering about the incompetence of the child welfare system.

She walked in the child's room to find the little girl and the child advocate playing with some stuffed animals. She smiled at the sight. The little girl looked happy and was definitely more aware and alert than she had been previously. The nurse came in to check her vitals, "How is she doing?" Shirley asked.

"Very well," the nurse said. "She's been a real trooper with all this testing. The diarrhea has stopped and we've nearly got the rash conquered."

"So, she should be released soon then," Shirley said.

"Not yet," the nurse replied. "Dr. Christian wants to keep her here for more testing."

"That's ridiculous," Shirley said, "I'll talk to him."

She left the room to make her call.

MDMDMDMD

"So what are your plans for the day?" Susan asked House as she started clearing the dishes.

"Depends," House said.

"On what?" Susan asked.

"You," House said.

Susan stopped what she was doing and turned around to look at House. She leaned back against the sink and crossed her arms in front of her, "So it falls upon me to keep you entertained," she said with some humor in her voice.

House leaned back in his chair and put his arms up with his hand behind his head, "Yep."

Susan smirked and turned back around to continue the dishes, "We need to leave at 5 to pick up Phillip from practice. Other than that, the only thing I had planned was chores."

"I'm not doing chores," House said.

"Are you any good at building things?" Susan asked.

"I'm good at whatever I want to be good at," House replied.

"Ego check for today, - affirmative," Susan said. "I want some chickens."

"Despite my numerous talents, I can't build chickens," House said.

"No, but maybe you could find a decent plan on the internet for a coop that would hold about 10 hens," Susan said.

"Sounds boring," House said.

"Then find something else," Susan said. "Watch TV, play the piano, work on Phillip's lawnmowers or whatever." She loaded the last dish into the dishwasher and went over to pick up Billy from his swing. "I'm going to get him dressed and then I'm going down to the garden for a while. Tag along if you like. Our wireless reaches all the way down to the spring."

House watched her walk out of the room carrying Billy with her. He got up from the table and moved over to the piano. Ten minutes later he heard the side door close as Susan left the house and headed to her garden.

MDMDMDMDMD

Phillip walked into the cafeteria and looked around. Being the 'new kid' was unfamiliar to him, but at least he did know some of the guys in school from football. He saw a group of them in the corner and he headed that direction. Jimmy saw him walking over, "Hey Yankee, you can sit over here," he said as he scooted over.

"Thanks," Phillip said. He sat down and opened his lunch pack.

"What is that?" Jimmy asked looking at Phillip's lunch.

"It's a pasta salad," Phillip answered.

"That's girl's food," Jimmy countered with disgust.

Phillip sighed, "I have a condition and I can't eat very much meat or I'll end up in the hospital. So I have to eat mostly like a vegetarian. It's good, you should try some. Mom always makes enough for me to share. I guarantee you it's better than that," he said pointing at Jimmy's hot pocket.

"That's why you didn't eat very much pizza the other day," Jimmy observed while shaking his head no.

"Yeah," Phillip said. "I got really sick last year not long after mom and dad got married 'cause mom's a really good cook and so I ate more meat. We didn't know before that because my dad can't cook for crap and I didn't eat very much."

"So your mom is your stepmom," Jimmy said.

"Nope. She adopted me, so she's my mom. My other mom died when I was a baby," Phillip said taking a bite. "Are you sure you don't want some?"

"Where are you from?" the boy across the table asked. "You sound weird."

"New Jersey," Phillip said.

"We call him 'Yankee' on the football team," Jimmy said. "He's going to be one of our running backs."

"We don't know that yet," Phillip said. "We find out at practice this afternoon."

"You're going to be a running back. Coach has been practicing you there all week," Jimmy said. "You're the fastest guy on the team."

"I hope so," Phillip said.

"Do you play any other sports?" the kid across the table asked.

"Baseball; I played catcher on my team in New Jersey," Phillip said.

"Sweet!" the boy answered. "I'm the pitcher on our team. Mom won't let me play football. She says I'll break my leg or something."

"This is the first time I've ever played football," Phillip said. "My sister talked my dad into it when we moved here. I think I like it better than baseball, but I still want to play baseball this spring."

The boys continued their conversation and all too soon the bell rang announcing that lunch was over. Phillip got up and threw his trash away and glanced at his schedule, "Where are you going next?" Jimmy asked.

"Band," Phillip answered.

Jimmy pointed in the direction of the band room, "It's in the building across the parking lot," he said and then he was gone.

Phillip wandered across the parking lot and found the band room. He walked inside and saw the other students at their lockers pulling their instruments out and warming them up. Phillip played the drums in band, so he didn't have an instrument. He walked over to the percussion section and stood there until one of the girls standing next to the lockers there noticed him, "You play the drums?" she asked. Phillip nodded. "Me too," she said. "You can pick a locker over here to put your bag into while we are in class. What's your name?" Phillip told her and she went over to the teacher's desk and pulled a piece of masking tape off the dispenser. She went over to where Phillip had chosen his locker and put the tape on the front and then wrote his name on it for him. "There, now that's your locker." She smiled at him and Phillip couldn't help thinking that she had a really pretty smile. His face turned red at the thought so he turned to face the front of the band room where the teacher was standing waiting for the kids to get settled in place.

"What's your name?" he asked without looking at her.

"Katie," she answered just as the teacher stepped up on the podium and called the class to order.

MDMDMDMDMD

Billy sat in the middle of the blanket mommy had put down for him. He had several toys around him, but he was more interested in the bucket sitting next to his mommy. She would reach inside get a toy and play in the dirt with it. Mommy was making those sounds she made all the time when they were alone. Mommy was always making sounds and sometimes he heard "Billy" among the other sounds that she made. He knew that sound and he looked at her every time and grinned. Mommy always liked it when he grinned. She would grin back and do that thing on his neck that made him laugh.

He reached up and grabbed the nub on the side of his head. It didn't hurt as much today. Yesterday it hurt really bad, and the other daddy, not his daddy, put a stick in his ear. Then mommy made him sit in cold water and he cried, but after it was okay because she held him and made those sounds again and when he woke up the other daddy was holding him. He liked the other daddy; he had a big bump on his face and he was scratchy around his eating place. Sometimes his daddy was scratchy too and he liked it when his daddy scratched him with his face.

Billy pushed himself on all fours and tried to reach the bucket next to mommy. He reached out, but he couldn't reach it yet. He worked his legs and moved closer. He could reach it now, but then mommy picked him up and made more sounds. He looked down in the bucket and mommy pulled out something soft and floppy and handed it to him. He grabbed it and waved it around, then threw it down. Mommy reached inside and pulled out another one just like it. He threw that one down too and tried to reach inside. He wanted one of the toys to play in the dirt, "No," mommy said with a bunch of other sounds. Billy knew that sound too and he didn't like that sound. Every time he heard that sound mommy or daddy was always taking something away from him. He reached again and mommy made that "No" sound again. She reached for one of his toys and handed it to him. He took his toy and waved it around. It made a different sound that Billy liked. He grinned at his mommy. She grinned back and then touched the bump on his face with hers.

Mommy sat him back down on the middle of the blanket and he waved the toy around some more. He made some of his own sounds and mommy answered back with her sounds. Billy saw something moving and looked over and saw the other daddy. He watched him come closer and he sat down on the big swing. Billy got on all fours again and tried to reach the other daddy while mommy and the other daddy sounded back and forth. Finally he reached the other daddy and put a hand on his leg, "What?" the other daddy said when he looked down at him. Billy grinned up at him, "Oh good grief," the other daddy said then reached down to pick him up and sat him on his lap. Billy reached up and put his hand on the scratchy face and laughed.


	15. Chapter 15

_[A/N: Here's a short one for you. I've been fighting the flu the last several days and haven't been up to doing much writing. I can give you this small bit for now since it's ready to go, and if I'm feeling well enough to write more, I'll give you another chapter on Friday. I hope all of you manage to escape the flu this year – it's not much fun.]_

**Chapter Fifteen**

"I distinctly remember you saying earlier this morning that it was your job to take care of the family and my job to treat the child," Dr. Christian said impatiently. "She's not ready to be discharged." He listened to Shirley for a moment, "I don't know what's wrong with her yet," he said. "I need more testing. If I can't find anything after another two days, I'll release her; but I'm telling you that if I don't find the underlying cause, it's just going to come back." Dr. Christian ended the phone call and muttered to himself as he walked away from his office to his last patient for the day, today being his half day. He pulled the patient's chart from the door pocket and looked at it before opening the door, "Prostate check…..wonderful," he said to himself quietly. He turned the knob and walked inside, "Hello Mr… and stopped mid-sentence. He looked at the chart and then his patient. He started to turn and walk out to find the nurse to fix the mix up when a masculine voice sounded from within the room, "It's not a mistake. I'm here for a prostate exam." Dr. Christian walked back into the exam room and shut the door.

Thirty minutes after the rather awkward experience of having to ask a woman to lift her skirt and bend over so he could check _her_ prostate, which was indeed enlarged and in need of further testing, he was back in his office going through the chart for his young patient in the hospital. So far all the tests were coming back negative and he was no further along than he was the day before. He had an entire list of what it wasn't. Dr. Christian put the chart down and ran his hands through his hair in frustration and rested his hands on the back of his head. Chronic diarrhea, distended abdomen, elevated leukocytes and CRP values. It wasn't much to go on and he needed help. He reached for his phone and called the front desk, "Pull the file for the James' baby and bring it to me please." Two minutes later the receptionist was in his office with the file, "Did you call Mrs. James and ask her if the tall man in the office diagnosing my patients on Monday morning had come in with her?"

"Yes," she answered. "He was with her."

"Thank you," Dr. Christian said and opened the file. He wrote down the address and put it in his pocket and got up to leave. He grabbed his patient's file and walked out the room.

MDMDMDMDMD

Susan continued to work her garden as Greg sat in the swing holding Billy and watching her while occasionally spouting off some snide remark about it being a waste of time and effort. The wildlife was just going to eat it all anyway. "I think when we go into town this afternoon, I'll pick up some plants to put in tomorrow morning," she said. House didn't answer and she turned around to look at him and smiled. He'd laid himself out along the length of the swing and both he and Billy had fallen asleep with the gentle motion of the swing. She pulled out her phone and took a quick picture and sent it off to David then turned back to her work.

MDMDMDMDMD

David felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out to look. He smirked at the photo. Susan had several such photos with him and Billy catching naps together as well. He sighed as he studied House's face. He was relaxed with sleep, but there were a lot of deep lines of worry and exhaustion showing in the older man. He was only four years older than David, but he looked at least ten. The last six months with Wilson had taken its toll. He put his phone away; at least he was getting some rest now. There wasn't anything better for inducing sleep than holding a sleeping baby. Some of David's best naps were when he was holding Billy. David suspected that House was getting little if any sleep at night if the proposals on his desk were any indication. He'd read through the proposal with House's changes listed; tired or not, the man's mind was sharp. He hadn't suggested a lot, but the few things he mentioned strengthened the proposal significantly. David copied the proposal and sent the original back to the physics department's head to update with the revisions. The professor had called him as soon as he received it back commending him on the changes, but David gave credit where it was due and told him he'd asked a good friend of his to read it over and the changes were his. "You should bring him on staff here," the professor said. "He's obviously worth whatever it would take to get him here." David laughed it off saying that probably wouldn't happen, but he'd pass on the compliment.

MDMDMDMDMD

"In 300 feet, turn right," the GPS announced as Dr. Christian drove down the highway. He started slowing down to make the turn. "In 100 feet, turn right" it said again.

"I got it the first time," the doctor said as if the GPS could hear him.

"Turn right," the GPS said. Dr. Christian turned right. One mile down the road, Dr. Christian came upon the entrance of the James' drive. "Arriving at destination on left," the GPS informed him. He turned into the drive and approached the house which was about 300 feet from the road.

He got out of his car and walked up the steps to the house and rang the doorbell. There was no answer. He looked behind him at the drive. There was a jeep and a motorcycle parked in the drive, so he assumed somebody was home. He noted the outbuilding and walked over to see if somebody was inside there instead and knocked on the door. Once again, there was no answer. He looked around and saw that the property extended beyond the house into a wooded area. He could see a pole barn another 100 feet back, but there wasn't any indication of movement. It was getting really hot; surely wherever they were they would come back to the house soon. He went back to the porch and sat down on the park bench to wait.

Fifteen minutes later he was drenched in sweat as the temperature steadily increased past 100°. The weatherman had predicted a high of 108° _(42°C for my non-American readers) _and the doctor was sure it would reach that high if not higher before the afternoon was through. He got up from his seat and started down the trail to the back of the property.

MDMDMDMD

"_House," Wilson said. House looked up from the television to his best friend who was looking worse every second; at least it seemed like it to him. "Come closer so I don't have to yell."_

"_You're not yelling," House said. "I____can hear you just fine over here."_

"_House," Wilson said again. With effort, House got up and went over by Wilson's side. He checked the IV and equipment hooked up to Wilson. "I'm not going to wake up again," Wilson said._

"_You don't know that," House said._

"_I do," Wilson said weakly. "and I want you to promise me something."_

"_What's that?" House said._

_Wilson shakily reached for a piece of paper on the side table and handed it to House, "I want you to leave as soon as I fall asleep."_

"_I can stay until you…," House started._

"_No, I don't want you to stay. I want you to go and I want you to go there," he said pointing to the paper he'd just handed House._

_House opened the folded piece of paper and looked at it. It was an address in the middle of the country, "What is this?"_

"_It's Susan," Wilson said. "They moved there a month ago. I want you to go there."_

"_I can't go Wilson; if I'm found with her she'll go to jail," House said._

"_It'll be okay; I promise," Wilson said. "Trust me." House studied Wilson and looked back at the slip of paper in his hands. "She's waiting for you."_

"_How do you know that?" House asked._

"_I just know," Wilson said. "Trust me."_

_House nodded, "Ok"_

"_Would you call my parents please?"_

Susan wiped the sweat from her forehead and turned to look back and Greg and Billy. They were still sleeping peacefully, but both of them had beads of perspiration on their faces. House's eyes were moving in REM sleep and Susan hoped the dreams were pleasant. The area was well shaded and the constant stream of water from the spring helped cool the environment around. As a result, it was about 10 degrees cooler here than out in the sun, but even 10 degrees cooler in this heat wasn't much relief. She looked at the bed she had been working on. She had about a foot length left to finish so she decided to quickly finish and then they'd go to the house. She bent back down to finish the last of it and when she dipped her trowel down for the last bit an unfamiliar voice came from the entrance of the garden area, "Oh, there you are." Susan startled and as she did so flung the trowel full of dirt behind her which rained down on House and Billy. House woke up sputtering and spitting dirt out of his mouth and Billy started crying. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," Dr. Christian said.

Susan stood up and tossed the trowel into her bucket and went over to Billy to pick him up from House who was trying to pull himself back upright, "How long have you been here?" Susan asked.

"About twenty minutes. I waited on your porch for a while, but it's really hot so I decided to come find you," Dr. Christian said.

House spit out the last of the dirt, "Why are you here?" he asked.

"To talk to you actually," Dr. Christian said. He held up his patient file, "I need your help."

Susan, who was still consoling Billy listened to the exchange and closed her eyes in worry as she started to come to terms with what she had just heard and what it meant for her brother. "Well," she said after she re-opened them, "I was getting ready to fix lunch anyway, so why don't we go to the house and cool down." She headed down the path with Billy and Dr. Christian started to go over to pick up her bucket of tools and the baby blanket, "Leave it," Susan said from the trail with a little bit of annoyance in her voice. "I'll come get it later." The men glanced at each other and then back at Susan before following her to the house.


	16. Chapter 16

_[A/N: I didn't manage to get anything else written last week, the flu kept hold of me until I had to go back to work and then I've spent so much time trying to get caught up that I couldn't sneak in a chapter in my down time. However, this one is ready and since you've all been so patient with me, I decided to give it to you a day early. Enjoy.]_

Chapter Sixteen:

Once in the house Susan took Billy to the back room while House and Dr. Christian sat at the kitchen table where House started reading through the patient file while the other doctor waited. Susan walked back in the kitchen carrying a small bottle of breast milk in one hand and Billy in the other. She sat the milk on the counter and strapped Billy in his high chair. She mixed up a small amount of rice cereal with the milk and pulled a chair up in front of his high chair and started to feed him his first solid meal.

House finished perusing the file, "Her previous doctor was an idiot. He was only treating the symptoms."

"Yes; and at this point so have I while testing for everything I can think of," Dr. Christian said. "In fact, her symptoms have all but disappeared at this point and the child welfare officer is pushing me to release her from the hospital."

House started grilling the doctor on the patient history and when he'd exhausted everything the doctor knew, he started to get up from the table, "We need to go to the patient's house to look for toxins."

"No you don't," Susan said from her chair where she'd been feeding Billy who was more covered with cereal on the outside of his face than in his mouth despite Susan's efforts to get him to swallow and keep his face clean. "You're not listening to yourself," she said.

House looked at her and waited, but Dr. Christian wasn't as patient, "What do you mean?"

"You started out looking for horses and then skipped right over to the Zebras and passed over the mules," Susan said.

"That's a bad analogy," House said.

"Fine – there isn't a cross between a Horse and a Zebra as far as I know, but you get the point," Susan said with some exasperation. "The child is being fed by another child, and that child is only five. She can't cook, she can't heat anything in the microwave; she might be able to use a toaster, but even that is questionable. If she's feeding the three year old, they're eating hands on food. That means sugary carbohydrate loaded foods. Too much sugar causes diarrhea"

Dr. Christian shook his head, "She doesn't have diabetes, her glucose levels are normal."

"It's not sugar," House said to Susan after a moment's contemplation, "and a normal blood sugar level just means that what is in her blood stream is being metabolized correctly. It doesn't mean that she's absorbing it correctly," House said shifting his eyes over to Dr. Christian. "Test for fructose malsorption."

"That makes sense," Dr. Christian said nodding. He looked over at Susan, "Are you a doctor too?"

"Nope, just a stay at home mom," Susan said standing up to get a wash cloth to clean Billy before she pulled him out of the high chair, but not before she snapped another picture of Billy covered in cereal with her phone and sent it off to David. "Before he was born, I was just a lab rat."

"Sounds like you were more than just a lab rat," Dr. Christian said. "Did you work with Dr. House? Is that why he's here? Are you and he together?"

"Yes, no and no," House replied with finality in his voice that indicated no other information would be forthcoming.

Dr. Christian nodded accepting that for now, "Ok," he said. "I better get going. You want to come along? I'm sure the hospital staff would enjoy meeting you. Your reputation…"

"No," House said.

"But…," Dr. Christian said.

"Can't," House said. "I'm dead."

Dr. Christian looked disappointed and a little confused but didn't pursue the conversation any further. He nodded and walked toward the front door.

"Dr. Christian," Susan said as he reached the door, "Please keep your knowledge of Dr. House confidential."

"Sure," he said beginning to understand and then he was gone.

Now that the doctor was gone Susan turned toward House, "What did you do, just pop in his office and announce, 'Hi I'm Gregory House and I need an antibiotic for a baby'?"

"I didn't say who I was," House said. "He recognized me from medical school."

"Great," Susan said sarcastically. "So now you've been found out and you've only been here for 5 days."

"That's not the worst of it," House said. "I was pulled over on the way back from town yesterday. The police have my driver's license information."

Billy cried out reminding them that he was in his high chair and wanted out. Susan walked over and pulled him out of the chair and took him over to the couch and sat down with him. "So we can expect the cops to come crashing through the door any moment," Susan said.

"Actually, I kind of expected them to crash through last night," he said.

"They wouldn't have had time to figure out where you are staying, but it won't be long. You were driving my car, but I haven't changed the tag or my driver's license yet," Susan said. Her mind wandered to the letter that Wilson had sent. Billy, still hungry having not gotten enough cereal in his belly to satisfy him, started reaching for more lunch. Susan covered herself with the throw over the couch and obliged him while she continued, "I guess we need to talk about your plans. I'd hoped to hold off talking about this until you settled in for a while, but it seems that the circumstances have changed."

"I don't have any plans," House said. "I haven't thought that far ahead."

"Which means you're acting on impulse; you've _always_ acted on impulse and it _always_ gets you in trouble." Susan paused for a moment, "Greg, you've got to start thinking things through before you react."

"Didn't bother you yesterday when I got Billy's antibiotics," House said.

"You're right; and I was thankful to have them. At the same time I would have made an appointment and taken him in myself," Susan said. House started to get up, "Where are you going?"

"To pack a few things," House said. "I'll need to hit the road soon."

"I don't want you to leave," Susan said.

"I don't have a choice," House said. "If they catch me here, you go to jail too." He finished standing up and headed to the door.

"Greg, stop. Please," Susan said. "You're doing just what I said and acting on impulse. _Please_ sit down. _Please._" House sat back down.

MDMDMDMDMD

Dr. Christian headed toward Westland to the hospital to start the test for fructose malsorption. He thought about what he'd learned this afternoon. Obviously House had faked his death and was now in hiding. He wasn't hiding very well however; he'd recognized him and Dr. Christian was sure that others would as well even without having gone to medical school with the man. House was known the world over and with his acerbic nature he would not be able to lay low for long. Personally, Dr. Christian was glad that House wasn't dead. There were a lot of people out there that needed his abilities. Susan James was no slouch either; he could see that they worked well together and wondered about that relationship. The baby, he knew had David James whom he hadn't met, listed as the father and House himself had said that they weren't together. Maybe they were related in some other way or just good family friends. Regardless, their brains obviously worked in tandem together. He enjoyed watching them work as a team and hoped he would have the opportunity again. He decided he would honor Susan's request to keep House's existence confidential.

MDMDMDMDMDMD

Billy had fallen back asleep after his lunch and Susan got up to take him to his crib. "I need to show you something," Susan said to House before she left the room. Five minutes later she was back in the living room carrying a letter from Wilson to House. "This came with the letter to me. I haven't opened it, but I assume it tells you the same thing that mine told me," she explained.

House took the letter and looked at the shaky handwriting that Wilson had developed as his cancer progressed as he was on increasingly higher levels of narcotics to keep the pain at bay. He slowly opened the letter and pulled it out of the envelope.


	17. Chapter 17

_[A/N: I apologize for not having this posted on schedule. Work went insane yesterday and I wasn't able to stop long enough to upload anything. I appreciate your patience. At this point you are now caught up to me. I haven't finished writing chapter 18 yet, so it may also be a day or two late if I can't find a few moments here and there to write. I work long hours and by the time I get home, fix dinner and clean up, I'm exhausted. On the weekends, I spend an enormous amount of time at home doing all the things I can't do through the week because I work such long hours. However, I'm not complaining because in this economy, I'm eternally thankful that I have a job – even if it does wear me out. So, here's chapter seventeen for your reading entertainment. Feel free to let me know what you think.]_

Chapter Seventeen

"I'm telling you, I left it on my desk," Officer Todd was explaining to his supervisor. "We got that emergency call with the accident between the semi and the pickup and I left to help with that."

"And you left your ticket book on your desk," the supervisor confirmed.

"Yes," Officer Todd said. "I had just finished entering the tickets for the day when the call came in."

"So at least everything is logged," the supervisor said. "Write up an incident report for the lost ticket book and check out another one."

Officer Todd left his supervisor's office and went to his desk to write the incident report. After he finished writing the report, he went to the traffic office to check out a new ticket book. As he walked down the hall, he saw the custodian just coming in to work the afternoon shift, "Hey Barry," he said getting the attention of the older man.

"Officer?" he asked.

"Did you happen to see my ticket book on my desk last night when you cleaned up around my desk?"

"I'm not sure. I did find one in the trash, but I didn't open it to see who it belonged to," he answered.

"Great!" Officer Todd said. "Do you know where it is?"

"Probably at the bottom of an ash pile by now," Barry said.

"An ash pile?"

"Since it was in the trash, I threw it in the confidential trash barrel and the destruction company should have already picked it up early this morning," Barry explained. "We can check to see if you like." The officer agreed and the two men went down to the basement to check. As suspected, the barrel had been replaced with another one which was currently empty. "We're their last overnight pickup. They go directly to the incinerator from here," Barry explained.

"Oh well," Officer Todd said. "I'd hoped to avoid turning in the incident report. Thanks for looking though."

"No prob," Barry replied. He watched Officer Todd leave the basement and made a note to himself not to throw away anymore ticket books if he happened to find them in the trash. He was sure he would hear about this from his supervisor as soon as the incident report was turned in.

MDMDMDMDMD

The bell rang signifying the end of classes for the day. Phillip got up from his desk and went to his locker. He was on a mission; football practice would start in 45 minutes and he wanted to go over to the Vo-tech to see if they had a book on fixing lawn mowers. He needed parts for two of the mowers he and Uncle Greg had found but he didn't know what they were called. He decided to run to the gym to get changed into his practice uniform and then if there was time, he'd go across the street to the Vo-tech to see what he could find. He packed his homework into his backpack, closed his locker and started towards the gym, "Hey Phillip," a voice called from behind him. He turned around and saw Katie from band coming up to him. "Several of us from band are going over to Sonic next door, do you want to come along?" she asked.

"I can't; I have football practice," he said.

"That's too bad, they make a great ice cream float," she said.

"That sounds good," Phillip said. "But I can't be late for practice."

"Ok, well I'll see you later then," she said and headed off toward her locker.

Phillip took off for the gym and changed as fast as he could into his practice uniform. He looked up at the clock and saw that he only had 20 minutes before practice started. He sighed in frustration; twenty minutes wouldn't be enough time so he grabbed his helmet and headed to the field. He was about halfway across the football field when Jimmy caught up to him, "You got ready awful quick," he said.

"I was hoping to get ready fast enough I could go across the street to the Vo-tech for a few minutes, but there wasn't enough time," Phillip explained.

"Why do you want to go there?" Jimmy asked.

"I'm fixing lawn mowers," Phillip said, "but I need parts and I don't know the names of them. I was hoping I could find a book or something."

"My dad could probably help you," Jimmy said. "He works in the garage next to the gas station."

"My uncle is helping me," said Phillip, "but he likes me to try things by myself first."

"What about your dad?" Jimmy asked.

"My dad can't fix anything," Phillip said. "He's really smart with science, but he is useless with a wrench." The boys finished walking across the field and went over to their warm up area and started stretching while they waited for the rest of the team. Soon the team was gathered and the group stretching and warm up began. After that was finished, the coach gathered the team around and read off the assigned positions. Phillip closed his eyes and crossed his fingers and when his name was called, he was first-string running back. He wanted to jump up and down with excitement, but he kept himself calm and self-controlled on the outside while on the inside he was whooping and hollering. He couldn't wait to tell his parents and Uncle Greg and he would email Laura as soon as he got home. He knew she would be proud of him. He wished she could come to one of his games, but because of the distance, she wouldn't be home until Christmas, even having to spend Thanksgiving in New Jersey.

Jimmy punched him the shoulder, "Told ya," he whispered.

Phillip shrugged, "I just got lucky," he whispered back trying to maintain his cool exterior.

The coach went over their plays for the next evening's game and then they started practice.

MDMDMDMDMD

Dr. Christian walked in the patient's room where the little girl was playing with her stuffed animals, "Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?"

"Fine," the little girl said. "I want to go home."

"I know, and you'll be able to soon. I need to run one more test," the doctor said.

"No," the little girl said. "Don't want no more tests."

"Just one more," the doctor said. "Then that's it."

"Promise?" the little girl asked.

"Promise," Dr. Christian answered. The little girl put the stuffed animals next to her and held out her arm. "No, no needles this time," Dr. Christian said. "I just need you to swallow this medicine."

Fifteen minutes after she took the medicine, the little girl became sleepy. Fifteen minutes after that she started falling in and out of consciousness, developed muscle rigidity and became cold and sweaty. Very shortly after that she became comatose and started seizing. Dr. Christian and one of the nurses worked feverishly to control her seizure while another took a small blood sample to test her blood sugar which had dropped precipitously. He ordered glucose by IV and the child recovered rapidly, but remained asleep. This entire reaction had ruled out fructose malsorption and Dr. Christian was back to where he started. He had to think and more importantly, he needed to get back in touch with Dr. House, but he needed more data, "Monitor her blood work every four hours and send the results to my office," he said to the nurses realizing he'd just lied to the child about no more tests. Leaving the hospital, he left the nurses to deal with that complication and headed home.

MDMDMDMDMD

Susan walked back into the living room where House, still holding Wilson's letter, was staring off into space. "Are you coming with me?" Susan asked, her hands full with Billy, his diaper bag and her purse. House looked at her and then shook his head. "Are you okay?" she asked and got no response. She looked at the clock above the fireplace and sat her things down on the floor. She walked next to the chair where House was sitting and kneeled down next to him, "Greg?" she said putting her hand on his arm. Billy looked at his mom's hand and then reached out and put his hand on House's arm next to Susan's. That got House's attention and he looked over at the both of them, "Are you okay?" Susan repeated.

"I'm fine," he said though he was very withdrawn.

"I need to go pick up Phillip from practice," Susan said. "Promise me you'll still be here when I return." House gave a slight nod, so Susan stood up and picked up her things with her free arm. She paused when she got to the door and looked back at House who was still staring off into space.

He noticed her standing there and focused on her, "Trust me," he said. Susan nodded and walked out the door.

"_Okay, I'm ready," Wilson said weakly. His parents were standing on either side of him, one holding each hand. House was at his head next to the IV. House slowly opened the housing on the IV and adjusted the dosage on the sedative to the level Wilson had specified._

"_This is only enough to knock you out," House said before he pressed 'enter' on the panel._

"_I know," Wilson said with effort, "I don't want that on your conscious."_

"_You should let me…," House started, but stopped when he saw Wilson shake his head._

"_No, House," Wilson repeated and looked straight in House's eyes._

"_Okay," House said and saw the relief come over Wilson's face knowing that he was trusted to do as he was asked. He pressed enter on the IV and watched Wilson drift off to sleep. "Good bye," he said softly. Wilson's parents continued to hold his hands, "He'll sleep until he passes," House told them quietly._

_Mrs. Wilson let go of her son's hand long enough to wrap her arms around House, "Thank you Gregory, for everything," she said tearfully. House hesitantly put his arms around Mrs. Wilson in response and looked over at Mr. Wilson who was still holding his son's hand._

"_You should get moving son," he said with tears in his eyes and gratitude in his tone._

_Mrs. Wilson released House and turned back to her son and watched him sleep as she picked up his hand. House turned away and picked up his overnight bag and walked out the door to where his motorcycle was sitting ready and waiting. He put his bag in the saddle pack and straddled the bike. He looked once more toward the house before starting his bike and heading down the street towards the unknown._

House felt a tear run down his cheek and quickly brushed it away. He looked around him, Susan was gone and the house was quiet. He looked at the letter again and folded it up and put in back in the envelope. "I don't know," he said to the envelope. He got up from his seat and walked through the house and over to his place. He opened the door and looked at all his stuff sitting there. Wilson had made arrangements to move it here and from the letter, he'd made arrangements for a lot more. House had only to decide what he wanted. He glanced back at the main house which had become Susan's home. He wouldn't take this decision lightly and remembering what Susan said to him earlier, he promised himself he wouldn't act on impulse. He turned back around, walked inside and shut the door behind him.

_[Post script: Thirty minutes after House had left the Wilson's, Wilson quietly passed away with his parents holding his hand until after he was gone. His parents each kissed his cheek and brought their hands that were holding Wilson's together and clasped his hands together over his body. Then they each lifted their side of his sheet and covered his body. Mr. Wilson came around the bed to Mrs. Wilson and held her as they both cried. Finally Mr. Wilson released his wife and called PPTH Hospice, who had been making daily visits, to tell them of Wilson's passing.]_


	18. Chapter 18

_[A/N: It may be a couple of weeks before I can post again. At this point, you have now read everything I have written. I'm hopeful to get chapter nineteen written this week, but as I said it might be two weeks. Don't worry though; I will not let this story die uncompleted. We have a ways to go before this one finishes and I'm confident that there is at least one more story in the series if not several. It just depends if I get new ideas to focus on for new stories as I write. For now, here is chapter eighteen and if you would care to tell me what you think, reviews are always appreciated – good and bad.]_

Chapter Eighteen

Billy sat in the back seat looking out the window as his mommy drove the car. From his angle he could only see the sky, but as they moved he saw the big sticks pass by that were tied on the top with strings. He watched stick, string, stick, string, stick, string. He reached up wanting to touch the string, but there was a hard thing in the way. He slapped his hand on the window glass. It was warm like Mommy, but Mommy was soft. His mommy slowed the car down and stopped. Sitting on the string in the sky was a big bird. He watched the bird until they moved away again; then he saw a bird in the sky with a long white tail behind it. He watched the bird with the long tail until mommy turned and he couldn't see it any more. Stick, string, stick, string, stick, string. Mommy sounded at him from the front, but he didn't sound back. Stick, string, stick, string. Finally mommy turned again and the car stopped. She sounded at him and he heard the sound, "Phillip". Billy got excited; he knew the sound "Phillip". Every time mommy or daddy sounded "Phillip" the smaller daddy was around. He liked the smaller daddy. He played games with him. Sometimes they would roll a ball and sometimes he would blow on his tummy and make that sound that tickled. Billy liked that; it made him laugh.

Phillip ran out of the gym at top speed, his backpack and his football gear bouncing on his back as he made his way toward the car. He passed by the driver's side of the car and went around the back of the jeep to put his gear away. Billy saw Phillip's head pass by the window and heard the back door open. He tried to turn to see the noise, but the car seat wouldn't let him move. By the time he finally got himself turned a little, the door slammed shut and Phillip opened the front door and got inside. Billy turned back around and looked at Phillip, "bab do dad da bla da bla," Billy sounded but Phillip wasn't listening. He was sounding to mommy and mommy was smiling back at him. Phillip was happy about something and he kept sounding to mommy and mommy sounded back, "bla da bla da um da bla," Billy said a little louder, but still no one listened. Finally frustrated with the whole thing Billy wailed out loudly. Silence echoed through the car. Phillip turned his head and looked back at Billy while Susan looked in the rear view mirror.

"I believe somebody has something to say to you Phillip," Susan said with a laugh.

Phillip grinned at Billy, "So, how was your day?" he asked Billy.

Billy grinned and laughed. Susan pulled the car out of the school drive and headed toward home.

MDMDMDMDMD

David walked out of his office and turned off the light. His admin had left thirty minutes earlier, so he pulled the door to the outer office shut and made sure it was locked. It was a good first day of classes he thought to himself. The students were eager and ready to begin a new semester. As he went outside to the parking lot he could hear music emitting from the one of the girl's dorm rooms in the building next to his. Across the street a group of students was gathered laughing and getting reacquainted after the summer break. One of his students from class was in that group. She saw him walking through the parking lot and waved at him. He waved back. This was such a friendly place, he smiled to himself. He started sweating as he made his way to his car. "Friendly, but remarkably hot," he said to himself. He wondered what the winters were like. Susan said they didn't get much snow, but it was still pretty cold, especially with the wind. At the moment he was thankful for the wind; without it the temperature would be unbearable. He made it to his car and opened the door. A fresh outpouring of hot air escaped from the car, "Wow," he said. He sat down inside and turned the car on, but left the door open for a moment as the air-conditioning fan worked to cool the car down and pushed the hot air out. His thoughts returned to Wilson's letter to Susan. Wilson had been responsible for him getting this position. He and House had been in New Orleans for several weeks enjoying the sights and sounds of the city. It had been a gift to House to stay there for so long as Wilson knew how much House enjoyed the music of the area and Wilson mentioned he had really grown to love the culture of the area himself. It was at one of the clubs they frequented in the evening that Wilson had overheard a man say to another that his wife was ready to move back to the area to be closer to her family and so he was thankful that the position had opened up at Tulane. _"How soon do you think you'll be able to move?" the other man had asked._

"_I have to give my notice and find a place to live out here, but I think within the next month. I'll be here in plenty of time before the semester starts."_

According to Wilson, he hadn't initially intended to eaves drop, but when the man mentioned he was currently the Dean of Arts and Sciences at a small university in the middle of the country, he listened more closely and as he listened, an idea started forming. It wasn't long before he had gathered enough information to start his own research and in a short time had enough to send an anonymously sent CV to the president of the university. After that, it was up to the university president and of course David. Wilson would keep an eye on things through his contacts.

David knew from Wilson's letter that once he'd learned that David had been interviewed and accepted the position that Wilson had worked behind the scenes find out when they were moving and managed to manipulate the moving company to get House's furniture moved with them. David would never have expected Wilson of all people to be as devious as he had been, and even though it was unsettling to be manipulated like that, he wasn't disappointed. He liked it here. He liked the people, he liked the openness of the countryside and he was especially happy with Susan's transformation. It was as if she was coming home even though this particular area wasn't where she'd spent her teenage years or where she'd lived with Jeff. She was more relaxed, even before House re-entered their lives, and significantly less stressed than she was in New Jersey. Susan simply didn't thrive in densely populated areas. He knew he personally had a lot to learn about country life, but he was willing.

The car had cooled enough on the inside to be tolerable, so he closed the door and started for home.

MDMDMDMDMD

House looked at the clock on his bedside table. Susan should be home in another thirty minutes. He wasn't sure when David would arrive this being the first day of classes. His mind continued to mull over Wilson's letter realizing that with the choices that Wilson had given him that there had to have been a lot more than just two letters in what Susan received. He got up from his bed and walked over to the main house. Susan had walked to the back of the house to put Billy down for his nap and had returned with his letter. That meant the rest of it had to be in her bedroom or the office. He started out in her room. He rifled through her bedside table to see if anything was in there. He picked up a non-descript box and opened the lid – then closed it quickly and put it back in the drawer with the corner of his mouth turned up. Obviously Susan had gotten over some of her inhibitions she'd developed from her marriage to Jeff and enjoyed a healthy sex life with David; he was glad for her. His own sex life had been non-existent since before Dominique had moved out, but interestingly enough, he wasn't really interested right now. He supposed the day would come when he might seek more activity, but at the same time he knew it couldn't be here. Susan would not look kindly upon him bringing a prostitute around. He walked around the bed to David's side and then went through the dresser drawers. Finding nothing, he moved to the office. He went through the desk and the filing cabinet. He moved over to the book case and looked between and around the books and periodicals, even looking on the top of the book case and found nothing. He started looking behind the pictures on the wall when he heard David's voice from behind, "Is there something I can help you find?"

House turned around, "I was looking for whatever Wilson sent."

"Behind a picture?" David asked.

"Thought there might be a safe or something behind it," House said.

"That would be neat, but no I haven't found anything like that around," David said as he went over to his desk. He opened a filing drawer and started going through the folders, "I'm not sure where she put it, but I would think it would have been in here," he said as he went through the file. "I'm not seeing it though. She should be home shortly, you can ask her then."

House nodded, "Do you know what all was in it?"

"No," David said. "She showed me the letter to her from Wilson and I read that, but I haven't seen any of the rest of it."

"What did her letter say?" House asked.

"It was long and I'll let her give you the details, but essentially there was a lot of historical information about various events in your life before she knew you. He seemed to regret the way he handled some of your life events and believed that he actually made some things worse by interfering; especially in regards to your personal relationships," David explained.

"What else?" House asked.

David thought for a moment trying to recall the contents of the letter, "He added Susan to his will in some manner but he didn't give any details but said that she would be contacted by his attorney when the time was right. My guess is that has something to do with you, but as I said there were no details."

"Is that all?" House asked.

"No," David said pausing for a moment, "He apologized for manipulating us."

House looked at him in question.

"Basically he got me my job," David said. "Somehow he was able to get my CV from my files at PPTH – Academic and sent it to the university president here after he overheard a conversation while you guys were in New Orleans," David said. House suddenly looked a little guilty. "What?" David asked.

"I got the CV," House said. "Wilson asked me to break in and get it for him, but he wouldn't tell me why. I wanted to see if there was any news on Susan in your files, so I snooped around while I was there."

"I figured," David said brushing it off. "It's okay." After a moment he chuckled quietly, "I bet that was a really boring hack job. I don't keep any personal files at work."

"It would have been boring anyway," House said. "It's not like you hold any awards for producing juicy gossip material."

David got up from his seat and walked out of the office and around to the kitchen with House following close behind. He opened the refrigerator and pulled out a Dr. Pepper glancing over to House who nodded. He tossed it over and got one out for himself and started rummaging through the cabinets looking for something snack on until Susan got home to fix dinner. He found a bag of tortilla chips and then went back to the refrigerator for some of Susan's homemade salsa. Soon the men were sitting at the table munching on chips and salsa. After a few moments David said, "You could have called while you were away," David said.

"I couldn't," House said. "I was dead."

"You're still dead," David said. "What's the difference between then and now? Besides you left her that bracelet."

"Trust," House said.

"Trust?" David asked.

"The bracelet was just a clue, not a real admission. If I was caught while Wilson and I were traveling and they found out that she knew I was alive, she could go to jail," House said.

"What does that have to do with trust?" David asked.

"Wilson," House said. "Wilson gave me your address and told me to come here, to trust him that everything would be fine."

"It's hard for you to trust anybody," David acknowledged.

House looked down at the table and then back at David, "I trust Wilson," he said.

"You can trust us too House," David said.

House nodded, "I know."


	19. Chapter 19

_[A/N: I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to post a new chapter. Work absolutely exploded in the last several weeks and I've been having to work such long hours that my time at home has been fully occupied. So, thank you for your patience and I hope to have the next chapter up on my normal Tuesday schedule. If you have time and inclination, a review would be most welcome.]_

Chapter 19

"Dad! I made first string running back!" Phillip said excitedly as he stormed into the house. David stood up from the table where he and House had been talking.

"That's great! Congratulations," he replied high-fiving his son when they met up.

"Are you coming to my game tomorrow?" Phillip asked looking over at House.

"I've got plans," House said.

"Oh," Phillip said deflating a little. "Well, maybe you can come to the next one."

"Maybe," House said getting up from his chair as Susan walked into the house carrying Billy and his things.

"What plans?" David asked. "It's not like you have any patients or social life around here just yet."

"Nothing that you know of," House said. "I'm busy." He looked over to Susan, "Where is the rest of the packet that Wilson sent?"

"In the office," Susan said.

"I've already looked through the office," House said. "It's not there."

"Yes it is, you just don't know where to look," Susan said handing off Billy to David as she walked to the back of the house.

Phillip moved off to his room to change and shower while the adults followed Susan into the office. Once in the office, she moved the chair out from under the desk and pulled the floor mat protecting the floor from the wheels on the desk chair and disappeared under the desk. David bent over looking under the desk and saw Susan opening a floor safe, "I didn't know that was there," David said.

"I found it when I was cleaning the room before our furniture arrived," Susan's voice said coming out from under the desk.

"Why didn't you say anything?" David asked.

"Didn't think about it," Susan said. "There was a lot going on at the time." She emerged holding two large brown envelopes each with a standard business envelope taped to the front of them. The thinner envelope was labeled 'Stay' and the other much thicker envelope was labeled 'Go'. She handed them over to House who took them and left the room. Susan and David looked at each other as they heard the door swing shut as House left their home and went over to his place.

"Do you need to follow him?" David asked still holding Billy.

"No, I don't think so," Susan said. "He has some thinking to do." She bent back down and disappeared under the desk and came out with another large brown envelope labeled with her name that had already been opened. "This was also in the package," Susan said.

"What is it?" David asked.

"Instructions and documents if he decides to regain his identity and stay home," Susan said. "Some of the documents have 'chain of custody' sheets attached that I've signed and dated, that I have received them, but I can't open them. I think they are for Greg's attorney if he decides to stay," Susan explained. "There is also apparently a checking account that Wilson opened in my name that I'm to use to give Greg cash as he needs it."

"How much is in it?" David asked.

"I don't know," Susan said. "I haven't had a chance to check it."

Billy, having had enough of the conversation going back and forth without him being the center of attention reached for his daddy's lips and pulled the bottom lip, "Hey!" David exclaimed playfully. "That wasn't nice." Billy jabbered back and pulled his daddy's lip again. David rubbed his 5 o'clock shadow on Billy's cheek in retaliation which sent Billy into giggles. Laughing, David turned and walked out of the room. Susan ducked back under the desk and put the packet she was holding back in the safe, closed up it and then put everything back in place.

MDMDMDMDMD

Shirley tapped on her steering wheel impatiently as she made her way to Red Sands to visit Ms Williams. She was still at odds with Dr. Christian concerning the release of the little girl from the hospital, but her hands were tied for the moment. She was going to give him until tomorrow afternoon, when he said he would release her if he hadn't made any more progress before going to the judge to get a court order for her release. She couldn't help but think that Dr. Christian was holding the girl hostage in the hospital using more testing as an excuse to keep her from her mother. From everything Shirley could find Ms. Williams was a good mother, just simply overwhelmed with her life situation and a lack of education to properly care for her special needs baby leaving the two older children to care for themselves. She glanced in her rear-view and side mirrors as she slowed to enter town and change lanes.

MDMDMDMDMD

Dr. Christian was on the road too, in fact the same highway as Shirley, but was at least forty minutes away from Red Sands having just left Westland Regional. He decided to make use of the time and pulled out his cell phone and called the number he had programmed into his phone earlier for Susan James.

"Hello?" Susan answered a little confused at the number displaying on her phone.

"This is Dr. Christian, I need to speak with House," he said tersely.

Susan sighed, "Just a minute." She walked across the breezeway to the guesthouse and knocked on the door. She heard a chair scoot across the floor followed by the familiar step-thump. House opened the door and she held the phone out to him, "It's for you." He took the phone and she turned and left to go back to the main house, but not before she saw the contents of both envelopes spread out on House's table.

"What?" House asked.

"It's not fructose malsorption," Dr. Christian said.

"What happened?" House asked.

Christian went into detail describing the test, the patient's reactions and the steps he took to stabilize the patient.

House thought for a moment, "Give me her address and meet me at her house."

MDMDMDMD

Susan walked back in the house and sat down at the kitchen table staring into space. Phillip, who had finished cleaning up from practice walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. He pulled out a vegetable tray his mom had made for him sometime during the day and grabbed the remainder of the opened bag of tortilla chips and went back to his room to start working on his homework. David looked up from where he was sitting on the floor playing with Billy when he heard the refrigerator door open and shut. He watched Phillip walk out of the kitchen and then noticed Susan sitting at the table. He got up from the floor and walked over to Susan and sat down at the table with her, "What's wrong?"

"He's going to leave," Susan said.

"How do you know that?" David asked.

"I saw a passport on his kitchen table," Susan said. At that moment a crash came from the living room following by the sound of Billy's voice as he started crying. Susan jumped up from the table and ran into the living room. When she got there she found the lamp broken on the floor and Billy sitting next to it crying. She quickly picked him up and started soothing him. She glared at David who was only a step behind her, "You can't just leave him on the floor anymore. He's mobile!"

"Susan, I…,"

"Don't _Susan_ me, he could have been really hurt," she said more forcefully than necessary. Phillip poked his head out of his room having heard the crash and then his parents, or rather his mom yelling at his dad. He quickly took stock of what was going on and seeing that all was under control opted to stay out of the situation and shut his door.

David was taken aback at her tone, but didn't retaliate. Obviously he hadn't intended for anything to happen. He'd forgotten that Billy had started working his way across the floor this week. Not quite a crawl, but he was getting where he wanted to go. David bent down and started picking up the pieces to the lamp. Billy had seen the cord hanging from the end table and had worked himself over to where it was and pulled on it causing the lamp to come crashing down. Susan took Billy into the back room with her to check him out and make sure he didn't have any cuts. When David finished cleaning the floor, he came into the back room where he found Susan changing Billy into a fresh diaper. She was crying.

"Susan I'm sorry," David said. "I forgot he was starting to squirm across the floor."

"No," Susan said. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I know you didn't mean for that to happen. I was distracted too and I took it out on you. It's as much my fault as it is yours. He's curious and is going to get into things. We've got to start paying more attention and I really should have already removed that lamp." She finished changing Billy and picked him up and held him for a moment before passing him to David.

David held him close, "I'm sorry little man," he said quietly. "Daddy shouldn't have left you by yourself like that."

"Well, isn't that a touching scene," House's voice came from the doorway. David and Susan both turned toward the door of the bedroom, "I need your keys. I don't have enough gas in the bike," he said.

David reached in his pocket and tossed his keys over, "Where are you going?" Susan asked.

"Gotta break into somebody's house," he answered.

"Excuse me?" David asked.

"He means he needs to look for toxins or other clues. I guess it wasn't fructose malsorption?" Susan replied and then confirmed.

"Nope," House said. "I'm meeting Christian at the mother's house."

"But you're not going to break in," David said.

"I will if she's not there," House said.

"And end up arrested. House you're going to screw up everything," David said.

"Gotta find out what's wrong with the kid. Can't do it if I don't have all the clues," House answered.

David looked at Susan who shrugged, "It's his way."

"I guess you need to go along to run interference if, I mean when, he gets into trouble," David said with a sideways glance at House.

"It would probably be best," Susan said. "Don't worry. I don't think he'll have to break in. The mother doesn't work, so she's most likely at home." Susan tiptoed up to where David was holding Billy and kissed him on the cheek. "Mommy will be back soon," she said and then kissed David as well.

House had already turned to leave and Susan rushed to catch up, grabbing her purse on the way. They walked out the front door and down the steps to David's car. "How'd you know she doesn't work?" House asked.

"Small town," Susan said walking around the car to the passenger side and opening the door. She got in and after House slipped inside she continued, "I heard a couple of ladies gossiping in the grocery store the other day and I put two and two together."

"Well, what else did they say?" House asked.

"Nothing of any interest to you," Susan said. "Besides I moved on to the next isle and didn't pay them anymore attention."

"Well, what do you know?" House asked.

"She's a single mom with three kids and is on welfare," Susan said.

"And?" House asked.

"That's it," Susan said.

"So why were they gossiping about that? There are a lot of single women on welfare." House said.

"I guess it would be more accurate to say that they were being judgmental," Susan said. "They were gossiping about her and basically snubbing their nose at her like they were a cut above."

"And that annoys you," House said as he pulled the car out of the drive and onto the road.

"You know it does," Susan said. "I have issues with people judging other people when they don't know all the facts and they haven't lived in that person's shoes. Are you leaving?" Susan asked suddenly switching topics.

"I haven't decided yet. I'm weighing my options," House answered.

"I saw a passport on your table," Susan said.

"It was in one of the packets," House said, "along with a complete with a set of identification papers and a wad of cash."

"What was in the other envelope?" Susan asked.

"The name of an attorney," House answered.

Susan sighed and turned her head to watch the terrain pass by. After a few moments she said quietly, "I understand if you think you need to go, but I really don't want you to."

House was quiet for a moment and glanced over at Susan who was still staring out the window, "I'm not making any decisions today."

MDMDMDMDMD

David followed Susan out of the bedroom and watched his wife and his brother-in-law walk out of the house. He didn't know how he missed that House was working on a medical case, but he hoped he wasn't getting himself in a position that he was going to regret. David liked House, as obtuse as the man was, he was a good man with good intentions despite the way he went about things and Susan loved him unconditionally. He just hoped that when House screwed everything up, he didn't drag Susan down with him. He looked at his son and rubbed his hand across his nearly bald head, "Come on Billy; let's go find a really cool toy."


	20. Interlude

Interlude:

A/N: Folks, please don't give up on me. I know it's been a while since I've posted a chapter.

Most of you don't know what I do for a living. I'm a lab supervisor at a pharmaceutical testing facility. We test pharmaceuticals that Pharmacists have had to compound because there is no formal manufacturing facility that makes these particular medications. With the increasing regulations recently enacted by the FDA, the company I work for has seen a tremendous uptick in the number of samples we have to test from pharmacies all over the United States. While this is a good problem from the view of my company's the bottom line, and also from the view of the receiving patient of these medications, it is unfortunately resulting in me having to pull 10-12 hour days trying to get everything done, then of course I have the normal wife/mom chores once I get home of an evening and on the weekends.

I love this story and I know where it's going – as well as the next story beyond that, but it's been so long since I've posted, I felt you deserved to know that I'm still here and why I have posted anything. I hope to post the latest chapter within the next couple of days – provided I don't die of pure exhaustion before then.

Sincerely,

Clp66


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty

House and Susan arrived at the mother's address to find a DHS vehicle in the driveway. They got out of the car and walked up to the door. Susan knocked politely and when the door opened, House barged past her through the door. Shirley stood upon his entrance, "Who are you and what are you doing here?" she demanded.

"The person who's saving the little girl's life," House replied walking through the living room to the kitchen.

Susan walked in the house and went right up to the DHS representative for damage control, "Hi, I'm Susan James," she said reaching her hand out to brush against Shirley's arm in a friendly gesture, "we're working with Dr. Christian to find the cause of the little girl's illness." She turned to the mother who'd just been shoved to the side when House barged in and was just coming to her senses. "I apologize for my colleague's brusque manner. He's very focused on finding a cure for your daughter." Susan guided the mother to the couch to sit and took a place right next to her. "Dr. Christian has called us for consult on your daughter's case. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?

The mother was looking toward the kitchen where House had disappeared, "What kind of consult are you?"

"He's an exceptional diagnostician and I'm his lab assistant," Susan said trying to be very careful not to mention her brother's name.

"What's he looking for in the kitchen?" she asked.

"Anything that could possibly be making your daughter sick," Susan explained.

Seeing that the mother seemed safe enough with the lady, Shirley moved to follow House into the kitchen, "Who are you?" she asked again when she found him crouched on the floor looking under the sink.

"I already told you," he said.

"No, what is your name?" Shirley asked.

House hesitated and then answered, "Greg."

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Looking for toxins," he said.

"Why?" she continued.

"Are you a moron or something? I said I was the person curing the kid, what do you think?" House responded. He closed the door on the cabinet and moved to the refrigerator.

Outside Dr. Christian pulled in front of the house as the driveway had both a DHS vehicle and another vehicle with New Jersey tags in the driveway. He'd hoped he waited long enough before calling House that he would have gotten here ahead of him so he could run interference. "No such luck," he said to himself as he put the car in park. Hoping not too much damage had been done by House's brutish manner; he made his way to the porch.

When he walked inside he saw Mrs. James sitting and speaking together with the mother and saw, or rather heard, Shirley's voice coming from the kitchen, "What could you possibly be looking for on the floor?!" Dr. Christian quickly made his way across the living room toward the kitchen.

"I'm not repeating myself," House said as Dr. Christian walked into the room.

Shirley turned toward him when she heard him enter, "Dr. Christian, I demand to know who this person is and what he has to do with your patient." House mumbled under his breath as he moved to the next cabinet over.

"Dr. H….," Dr. Christian started and caught himself. "The doctor is consulting with me on my patient," Dr. Christian explained. "He's one of the best diagnostician's in the world and he's agreed to help me on this case."

"_One_ of?" House asked rhetorically glancing sideways at Christian.

Christian rolled his eyes, "and he has the ego to match," he added. Dr. Christian gently guided Shirley out of the kitchen distracting her with the new information from the latest testing. He described in great detail every test he had run with the results and what that meant or didn't mean. He didn't really intend to go into that much detail with her, but doing so gave House the space he needed to finish his inspection.

Back in the living room Susan was speaking quietly with the mother when the baby woke up from his nap. The mother stood to excuse herself to the baby's room. "May I come with you?" Susan asked. Acknowledging, Susan followed her into the baby's room. Walking in the room Susan looked around. The walls were covered in a large number of brightly colored pictures and hanging from the ceiling was a small disco ball reflecting light in all directions on the walls and the ceiling. The room was so busy it was enough to make Susan dizzy so she focused her attention on the mother as she reached down to get her son. The mother lifted her son out of his crib and started to walk out of the room when Susan mentioned, "You don't have to change him? My son is usually soaked when he wakes up from his nap."

"Oh, I guess I should," the mother said setting the baby back down in the crib and started rummaging around for a fresh diaper. Finding one she started changing his diaper.

"You have a lot of decorations in here," Susan said.

"Yes," the mother replied. "I read that you should provide a lot of things for these babies to look at. It helps their brains develop since they're not normal."

Susan kept her opinion to herself about that piece of literature, but she was hoping that the mother was just misinterpreting the article as she re-examined the walls and the ceiling. There was stimulation and over stimulation and this room ran into ridiculous. The baby continued to scream and cry until the mother was finished changing him and picked him. They walked out of the bedroom and as soon as they left the room, he started to settle down which only confirmed to Susan what she had been thinking.

Finished with his inspection of the kitchen, House walked out of that room and asked the mother, "Where's the kid's bedroom?" She pointed it out and he walked down the hall. "Susan," he said as he passed by wanting her to follow him. "What have you learned?" he asked as he started examining the room, which like any child's room was a mess.

"Not much," Susan said. "She's overwhelmed with the care of the baby and isn't able to pay as much attention to the little girl." At that moment the five year old came into the bedroom.

"Who are you?" she asked.

Susan turned around and faced the little girl who had obviously been outside playing. She knelt down to be at eye level with the child, "My name is Susan," she said.

"How comes you're here?" she asked.

"We're looking to see if we can find what's making your sister sick," Susan said.

"I'm not sick," the little girl said. "This is my room too."

"I see that," Susan said. "Which bed is yours?"

The little girl pointed to the bed across the room, "That one. You can tell 'cause it's not got poop on it."

"Your sister has a lot of accidents," Susan said.

"Uh huh, she can'ts help it though," she answered. "She's got a leaky bottom."

"Do you help her?" Susan asked.

"Uh huh, 'cause I'm a big girl," she said.

"What do you do to help her?" Susan asked.

"I puts on new clothes for her and give her food," she said.

"Can you show me what kind of food you give her?" Susan asked. House had been looking around, but had also been paying attention to Susan's conversation. Intrigued he followed Susan and the little girl out of the room to the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen the little girl pulled a chair up to the cabinet and started pointing out the different things she fed her sister. Mostly cereal and bread, but as she was pointing through the boxes Susan noticed she kept skipping a few here and there. "What about these?" Susan asked pointing at some generic poptarts.

"Nope, those is mine. She don't like them."

"She doesn't?" Susan asked rather surprised.

"Nope, they gots icing on them."

"She doesn't like icing," Susan repeated.

"Nope, she don't like nothing sweet. It makes her tummy hurt," the little girl announced.

House stopped dead in his tracks and as Susan started to move to follow the little girl to the refrigerator she nearly bumped into him. She looked up at him and he had that familiar faraway look in his eye. Suddenly he turned on his heal and walked into the living room, "You're an idiot," he said to Dr. Christian who looked up at him when he entered the room. "You said you ruled out fructose intolerance."

"I did. The way she reacted to the breath hydrogen test confirmed that it was not fructose malsorption," he said.

"It eliminated fructose _malsorption_, but it didn't eliminate hereditary fructose intolerance which causes all her symptoms." He looked over at Susan, "My work here is done." House walked out of the house leaving Susan behind.

Susan turned to Dr. Christian, "Do you need us for anything else?" she asked.

The doctor shook his head as he pulled out his phone. Not thinking about his words and focusing on the keypad on his phone to call the hospital he just said absently, "Tell Dr. House thank you. I'll take care of things from here."

Susan turned around and headed out of the house. She moved to get in the driver's seat and finding House already sitting there, walked around the car to the passenger side. She pulled out her keys and handed them over and then leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes.

"What's wrong?" House asked.

"Dr. Christian thanked you for your help," Susan said.

"So," House said with a shrug.

Susan opened her eyes and looked over at him, "He used your name."

House didn't say anything and started the car. The ride home was quiet.


	22. Chapter 22

[A/N: This one is pretty short, but it seemed a good place to stop in the story. I'll work very hard to have the next chapter up early next week. Thank you for the reviews and for your continued support while I try to balance my ever increasing work load.]

Chapter 21

Shirley made a mental note of the name that Dr. Christian had used and resolved to do a little research when she returned to the office. She turned to the mother, "Well, that was all exciting wasn't it?" she asked rhetorically.

"I liked that woman," the mother said.

"I didn't care much for that other doctor," Shirley said.

"Doesn't matter what he acts like, if he figured out what was wrong with my daughter," the mother said. She sighed and sat down on the couch still holding the baby. "Are you going to take my kids?" she asked.

"No," Shirley said. "But I am going to get you help."

"I'm already on welfare," the mother said. "I'm already the talk of the town because of that."

"I wouldn't worry about the town," Shirley said. "Nobody else has to live in your shoes."

Dr. Christian hung up, "I asked for the results on the liver enzyme test I ordered and it's not quite ready. I'll have the results in the morning and if they confirm Dr…" just then he realized his slip earlier and caught himself before he did it again, "the diagnosis, then I'll release her," he said. "However, that being said, I want you to set this woman up with some training so that she learns how to care for her children." He shifted his gaze from Shirley to the mother, "There is no reason for this child to have gotten into this state to begin with and wouldn't have if you'd been paying attention. If you can't handle caring for your children alone, then get help. Where is their father anyway?"

"Dr. Christian," Shirley said firmly. "Don't worry about the family. You've done your job, now let me do mine. I'll be at the hospital in the morning to pick up the little girl and bring her home."

"There will be a set of dietary restrictions for your daughter for you to follow," he said to the mother. "You won't be able to let your five year old take care of her anymore. You're going to have to start paying closer attention yourself." He turned and left the house before Shirley could interject anything. Dr. Christian was an excellent doctor, but he could really use some training in human relations himself. Still, he was a lot better than that other doctor. She sighed to herself and wondered why the most brilliant of men had to be such jerks.

Shirley turned to the mother who had started crying with the doctor's comments, "Don't worry about it," she said laying her hand on the mother's shoulder. "We're going to get you help."

MDMDMDMDMD

House pulled into the drive and shut off the car. Without a word, he got out and went to his place and closed the door behind him. Susan got out of the passenger side and walked up the porch into her home.

"You're back," David said smiling when she walked in. "How'd it go?"

"Greg diagnosed her," Susan said.

"You don't look too happy," David observed.

"Oh, I'm happy for the little girl and her family…," Susan trailed off.

David wasn't about to let that one slide. He walked up to her and put his arms around her, "What happened?" He led her to the couch and they sat down together.

"Where are the boys?" Susan asked.

"Phillip is his room, I think working on his guitar piece from the sounds coming through the door and Billy is down for a nap; so what happened?"

"Oh, Greg was his usual self and I was working to keep things on an even keel; talking to the mother and such. Once Greg had enough information that his epiphany hit, he called the Dr. an idiot – which Dr. Christian seemed to take in stride. I guess he'd heard well enough of Greg's reputation, but after Greg walked out the door and I was making moves to leave he told me to thank Dr. House for him."

"Oh…," David replied understanding the implications. "I assume you told him."

"Yes," Susan confirmed. "He hasn't said a word since."

"He's probably working things through. I'm sure it will be fine," David said.

"He's going to leave," Susan said. "I guess I always knew he would leave, I just hoped it wouldn't be this soon."

"Has he said he was leaving?" David asked.

"No, he said he hadn't decided anything yet, but that was before we made it to the patient's house," Susan said. "Now that he's been announced, it's just a matter of when and he likely won't even announce his departure. He'll just disappear."

"No," David said. "He won't do that to you again. I've known House, at least peripherally, for a long time. He's never been as platonically close to someone as he is to you, except maybe Wilson. He's not going to do that to you; not again – especially not now."

MDMDMDMDMD

Phillip looked at the music in front of him and tried to put his fingers between the frets on the neck of his guitar. His fingers were practically tied in knots around each other, but he finally succeeded in getting all the notes covered. He strummed the chord and was rewarded with a 'plunk' sound. Obviously he wasn't pressing hard enough on the strings to make the notes sound. He pressed harder, 'plunk'. He sighed and thought to himself that he was never going to get it right.

MDMDMDMDMD

House sat on his couch staring out the window toward Susan's. His mind was racing, but not in a controlled manner; more like a demolition derby than an actual race. His thoughts were crashing and ricocheting off each other. He needed focus.

The side door to the house opened and House's familiar step – thump gait walked through the mud room and into the living room. David looked back over his shoulder from the couch where he and Susan were sitting and watched as House made his way to the piano. He sat for a moment lost in thought and then started to play. At first it was bluesy style meanderings and then slowly coalesced into a piece David had never heard, but was obviously well practiced. "Do you recognize this one?" he asked Susan softly.

She shook her head, "No, but I like it." They sat together quietly listening and then after a few moments Susan realized what the song was and she smiled. "It's for me," she said quietly.

"Hmm?" David asked just as softly.

"He wrote it for me," Susan said.

"But you haven't heard it before," David confirmed.

"No," Susan said. "But I hear my music in the undertones; listen."

David listened closer and sure enough he could hear undertones of Susan's favorite hymns as background for the melody and when he listened with that level of detail, he could see Susan in the melody. House had obviously put a lot of thought into it. David pulled her in tighter, "I think this pretty much confirms what I was telling you earlier."

MDMDMDMDMD

Phillip quit playing around on his guitar when he heard the piano shift from random melodies into the song. It seemed familiar, but he knew he hadn't heard it before. It certainly wasn't anything that he'd heard Laura play over the summer. Phillip wondered if it was something Uncle Greg had written himself. He set his guitar on his bed and opened his door and padded out quietly to the entrance of the living room. House continued to play while the family listened. When he finished Phillip asked, "Did you write that?"

Susan got up from her seat and came over to House. Without saying anything, she put her hand over his, squeezed it slightly and smiled as her eyes moistened. House nodded slightly at her – the communication received loud and clear.


	23. Chapter 23

_[A/N: Once again thank you for your patience as I continue to juggle the work/writing schedule. This chapter is fresh off the press so to speak and hasn't been well reviewed. Should you find any typos etc., please forgive, but let me know so I can provide corrections. Hopefully the next chapter won't be long in coming. Thanks for reading.]_

Chapter 22

The next morning was a flurry of activity for the James'. David left for work early promising to be back early. As soon as he left, Susan packed a double lunch for Phillip as he would not be home after school. The first football game was tonight and she wanted to make sure he had plenty to eat. Since he couldn't eat high levels of proteins with his condition, she packed his lunch with extra carbohydrates to get him through the game. She also threw in a couple of sport drinks and instructed him to drink one at lunch time and another right after school explaining that it would lessen the chance that he would cramp up during the game with it being so hot. He ran out the door just in time to meet the bus. House was walking out of his place as Phillip started down the lane. Phillip waved to him as he ran. House watched him run to meet the bus and then went inside the house.

Susan was putting Billy in his swing when House walked inside. He stopped her halfway and took Billy from his mother and sat down at the table and set Billy on his lap. While House had held him several times, he had never initiated taking him on his own. Susan raised her eyebrows but said nothing and went over to the stove to fix him some breakfast. "What are your plans for the day?" she asked as she cracked an egg into the frying pan.

"Would you fix a roast for lunch?" he asked, deflecting the question with another. Susan glanced up at the clock and did a mental calculation.

"Sure," she said. She dished out the scrambled eggs onto the plate and took it to the table before leaving the kitchen for the mud room where her freezer was located. Back in the kitchen she pulled a glass baking dish out of the cabinet, removed the small roast from the package, put it in the dish and filled it with water for a faster thaw while she prepared the other ingredients. Soon she was finished and she put it all together and slipped the dish in the oven which she set on a timed program to give it an hour of thawing time before it actually started cooking. She turned around and found Billy trying to grab House's fork as he brought it to his mouth and House keeping it just out of reach. House slowly moved the fork back to his plate, Billy following the action with his head and his hands. Another fork full and the process started over. Billy's mouth was wide open as he tried to reach for the fork. Susan smiled at them and turned to fix Billy some cereal. She sat the bowl and spoon in front of House and sat down to join them at the table.

"I'm not feeding him," House said looking from the cereal to Susan.

"You've teased him long enough," Susan said with a laugh in her voice. "Give him some food." House put his fork down and picked up Billy's spoon. Soon both House and Billy were covered in cereal and Billy managed to spit and slobber as he worked on his swallowing skills. "Greg," Susan said and as House looked up she snapped a photo and then laughed at the look he gave her. House got up from his seat and handed the baby to Susan and reached up to his head discovering cereal in his hair. With a disgusted look on his face he announced his intent to shower – _again_ – and left the house. Susan took Billy back to her bedroom to clean him up and then returned to the kitchen. She put him in his playpen with a few toys and then turned to the table to clean up breakfast. As she started clearing her brother's plate she noticed his ipod on the floor next to the chair. _It must have fallen out of his pocket when he got up, _she thought to herself. She reached down to the floor to retrieve it and put it on the table when she stopped mid-way and then after glancing to make sure Billy was playing contently and not able to get into any trouble, she disappeared into the back of the house. Ten minutes later she walked into the kitchen, checked on Billy who was still playing with his toys in his playpen and then set the ipod on the table and resumed cleaning. She was loading the dishwasher when House walked back in, his hair wet and clothes changed. She smiled at him as he scowled at her. "You dropped your ipod," she said indicating it sitting on the table. House walked over and picked it up and put it in his pocket.

"I've got some things to take care of," he said.

"Okay, lunch is at 1:00," Susan answered.

House walked down to the pole barn where Phillip had the lawn mowers he was repairing and found the gas can. He picked it up and found it to be over half full, he carried to his bike and emptied it into his bike's gas tank. He tossed the can aside and mounted his bike.

MDMDMDMD

Shirley walked into her office having just come from the hospital where Dr. Christian had just released the little girl to her mother with a set of strict dietary instructions. She sat down at her desk to file her report and began to work on getting the mother the training and assistance she needed to properly care for her children. As she wrote her report, she recalled the incident at the mother's house and brought up the internet. She googled "Dr. Greg House" and the search engine quickly returned a large number of documents and news releases. She started at the top and worked her way down. It wasn't long before she realized just how well regarded Dr. House was for his diagnostic skills. He'd diagnosed a number of very rare diseases and had even treated several high profile individuals. She started to close the search engine when a news headline caught her eye, "Renowned physician, Dr. Gregory House, dies in warehouse fire". She clicked the file.

MDMDMDMD

House walked into Dr. Christian's office and went straight through the waiting room to the back. The receptionist made no move to stop him knowing him by sight at this point and that it would do no good. She glared at him as he walked by, but said nothing.

Four hours later he walked back in the house where Susan was pulling the roast out of the oven. "Just in time," she said as she set it on the stove. Soon they were eating of roast and potatoes with gravy, a salad and a dinner roll. House closed his eyes as he savored the taste. He always enjoyed Susan's cooking and her roasts were among his favorites. Conversation was light during lunch, but just as Susan finished the last of her plate, she asked about Dominique.

"I don't know," House said. "I assume she's back in Atlantic City. There wasn't much point in keeping up with her after the divorce."

"So the divorce was finalized before…." Susan started.

House nodded before Susan finished. He was quiet for a moment then explained further, "I signed the papers that morning. That's why I was in the warehouse with my patient. I knew he had drugs and I wanted to get high."

"You _did_ love her," Susan observed. House didn't say anything, but his expression gave it away. "Why didn't you let her know you were still alive?"

"She got what she wanted," House answered. "And I had things to do."

MDMDMDMD

"Hello?" Officer Tom answered his personal cell phone. "Oh hi Shirley, how are you?"

"I'm fine," she answered. "It's been a while since we've seen each other; I was wondering if we could get together this evening."

"I don't have anything pressing," he answered. "I have to work until 7:00, but I'm free after that. Where do you want to meet?"

Shirley suggested a small café in Westland and Tom agreed. As he hung up he wondered what Shirley wanted to talk about. They had dated for a time in high school and then she had ended their relationship when she left for college. He'd been devastated and while he'd dated a couple of other women since, none of them had meant as much to him as Shirley. He smiled as he put his phone back in his pocket. She definitely had an agenda with this meeting, but he hoped maybe he could generate some interest in picking up where they left off. He looked at his watch, he had several hours of work left, but as he walked to his motorcycle for his patrol shift his mind was already on his dinner date.

MDMDMDMD

"I uploaded your homework assignment for this chapter early this week and its due this coming Monday when we will begin the next chapter," David told his class as he finished lecture. Being the beginning of the semester, he knew that the students weren't in a studious mood, but if they hadn't at least started their homework before now, they were in for a surprise. David wasn't easy on his students, but if they actually did the homework assigned, they would do well on the exam in three weeks. Being an upper level class, this was difficult material and he wanted them to stay caught up or they would regret it by the end of the semester.

Class ended and he gathered his things. He looked at his watch, it was 3:30 and he'd promised Susan he would be home early so they would make it to Phillip's first game which was supposed to start at 5:30. He knew he was pushing it to make it home in time, so he rushed by his office to drop off his things and then headed to his car for the trip home. He was looking forward to watching his son at his first football game. It was so hot though and he hoped the boys wouldn't get over heated. He knew Susan had packed extra fluid for Phillip to drink through the day to help defray leg cramps. After the junior high game, the varsity team would play and Phillip would want to stay to watch which meant that David needed to stop by the ATM to pick up some more cash for concessions. Susan would cringe at the food they would be eating, but it wasn't like there was much of anything else they could do for tonight. After his game Phillip was going to be hungry.

David stopped by the ATM and then headed out of town. As he merged onto the highway, he thought of House and wondered if he would be able to talk him into coming to the game – it would mean a lot to Phillip.

Thirty minutes later he was walking into the house. Susan was in the back changing Billy and getting ready for the evening. House was sitting at his piano playing some soft jazz. David put his brief case down and walked over, "Are you sure you won't come tonight? It would mean a lot to Phillip."

"Sure, sitting in the sun on bleachers in 108 degree heat sounds so appealing," House said sarcastically. "Not my idea of a good time."

"I'm not looking forward to that part either, but he's my son," David said.

"That's the disadvantage of being a parent – always having to do things you don't want," House said. "Your little wifey is in the back getting ready," House added dismissing David. David left to go back and change and House stared after him. His eyes dropped to his hands on the keyboard. He gave one final run across the keys and then he shut down the cover. He stood up to leave the room and as he walked he brushed his hand along the top of the piano. When he reached the end, he patted it and then continued out through the mud room through the side of the house and across the path to his own.

MDMDMDMD

"I don't understand why he won't come," David was saying as he changed out of his work clothes and into shorts and a t-shirt while Susan was slathering Billy in sun screen before she put him in his outfit.

"David," Susan said looking up at him, "he's not going to be here when we get back. He's leaving."

"Leaving?" David repeated, "He _just_ got here. He's just going walk out? What about Phillip? What about you?"

"He's doing what he thinks is best," Susan said. She finished dressing Billy and started out of the room. "I'll talk to you about it on the way to the game."

MDMDMDMDMD

The house was quiet when House walked back in through the mud room. Susan, David and Billy had left for the game thirty minutes earlier. He walked in the kitchen and out of habit opened the refrigerator door. He opened the snack drawer and pulled out a cheese stick then closed the door. As he munched, he glanced around great room and his eyes landed on the table where he saw his old friendship bracelet sitting on the table in front of the chair he'd used at lunch. Susan had braided it for him when he went to prison nearly two years ago. He walked over to the table, picked it up and put it back on his wrist. One final look around and then he walked outside locking the door behind him.

MDMDMDMD

It was the fourth quarter with 3 minutes left in the game and the score was tied with the Red Sands junior high team on their own 45 yard line. Phillip set his stance about six feet behind the quarterback and just to the left. The quarterback called the play and then the center hiked the ball. Phillip started his run passing just behind the quarter back who turned to his right and placed the ball in Phillip's mid-section as he ran by. Ball in hand, Phillip ran to the right and turned left as he approached the side line. He saw a defensive lineman coming toward him and zigzagged to miss him. The next defensive player dove for his feet and Phillip hurtled over him and continued his run. Phillip turned on his speed and ran as fast as he could for the end zone; his mind registered the crowd cheering in the background, but he was concentrated on the goal. He didn't know how far behind him the defensive team was, but it didn't matter – he was running as hard as he could for the end zone. Just a few more feet and Phillip felt his feet pulled out from under him. At the same time, he was tackled from the side sending him through the air, but when he landed, it was in the end zone. He'd scored! Phillip jumped up as his team gathered around him cheering and slapping him on the helmet. Phillip's eyes weren't focused on his team just then however, but instead a lone figure on a motorcycle just forty feet away. Phillip's smile widened as he lifted his arm to wave. The man put his helmet back on his head, turned his bike and drove off. "Who was that?" Jimmy asked.

"My uncle," Phillip answered grinning ear to ear. The coach hollered at the boys and they turned and ran to the side line to join the rest of the team.


	24. Chapter 24

_[A/N: This is a short chapter, but it seemed a good place to end. The next day is Saturday fic time and things will be a little more exciting for the James family. Stay tuned – hopefully I can get something posted next week if work and the weather will settle._

_Some of you know that the area I live was hit rather hard by a deadly tornado last week killing seven children in an elementary school and several adults as well. My family was fortunately not among the victims of the tornado and for that I'm eternally thankful. For those of you that knew and contacted me, I appreciate the thoughts and prayers. This week has continued severe weather and this evening promises more of the same. This has been one of the more difficult months of May in my memory. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue to recover.]_

Chapter 23

It was dark when the James' pulled into the drive at home. They'd stayed at the school through the high school varsity game. Red Sands High lost their game, but Phillip was still pumped about the junior high game. "Mom, is it okay to go over to Uncle Greg's? I want to thank him for coming to my game," Phillip asked. Susan started to answer as David stopped the car, but in his excitement Phillip forgot to wait for the answer, jumped out of the car and ran over to House's. He knocked on the door and waited. Not getting any answer, he tried the door knob and found the door unlocked so he went inside, "Uncle Greg?" he called. He felt a presence behind him and turned around to find his mom had followed him inside.

"He's not here son," she said.

"Did he go somewhere after my game?" Phillip asked.

"He left," Susan said.

"What do you mean he left?"

"Since he's had so much exposure, he decided it was best to leave," Susan explained.

"He's running away," Phillip said.

"I prefer to think that he's protecting his family," Susan said. "But, yes he's running."

Phillip moved over and dropped into House's couch and Susan followed sitting next to him. Phillip was quiet for a while and then spoke softly, "I'm sorry I was mad at him when he first came home."

Susan put her arm around him and brought him close, "Phillip, its okay. He understood and didn't hold it against you," she said. "That had nothing to do with why he left."

"I know," Phillip said. "It's just that now I feel really stupid for acting that way. We only had a week and I wasted the first couple of days being mad."

"Consider it a learning experience," Susan said. "Come on," she said getting up. "You're going to stink up his couch sitting here like you are – all sweaty and such." Phillip got up and walked out the door to the main house to get cleaned up before he went to bed. Susan stopped at the door and looked around. She saw the envelope marked "Stay" still sitting on the table. She walked over and picked it up taking it with her. Tomorrow she would come over to give the place a good cleaning and cover the furniture to protect it. She sighed to herself and then turned to go back to the house.

MDMDMDMD

_Mommy's sad_. Billy was nursing and felt a drop of wetness hit his cheek. He moved his hand to where the drop fell and felt the wetness on his fingers. He opened his eyes and looked up at his mommy. Her head was resting on the back of the couch and her eyes were closed, but he could see where tears had streaked down her face. He reached up as far as he could and laid his hand against her body. She felt the movement, opened her eyes and look down at her son. He was still nursing, but he was looking at her with an intensity that surprised her for one so young. She rubbed her hand over his head and smiled at him, "I love you little man," she said quietly. Billy released and Susan brought him up to her shoulder. He really didn't need to be burped so much anymore as he was pretty good at it by himself at this point, but Susan enjoyed the closeness especially during the late night feedings. She knew it wouldn't be too long before he was sleeping all night, so she wanted to cherish these times while she had them. Soon he was asleep and she got up from her seat and padded back to the bedroom where she laid him in his crib and then climbed back in bed facing away from David who was sound asleep.

David opened his eyes. Something had woken him up, but it was quiet. He lifted his head and looked over at the crib; Billy was asleep. Susan was lying on her side facing away, but her breathing was regular. He laid his head back down and closed his eyes. A few moments later he heard a soft sniffle. He opened his eyes and looked over at his wife. She was still lying quietly, breathing regular and not moving. He started to close his eyes when he heard the sniffle again. Now he knew she was awake. He turned his body to face her, closed in behind and wrapped his arm around her. Susan shifted in his arms and wrapped herself around him. He held her close. Soon it was apparent to him what she needed.

David gently adjusted her night clothes and brought her close. He gently stroked her face with his hand and kissed her on the forehead. He pushed his body against and joined with her. Side by side, face to face they held each other as one with only just enough motion for David to maintain. This position was difficult for him as it was not filled with passion and often this position was accompanied by conversations of difficult subject matter causing him to have to concentrate on physically maintaining intimate contact. He knew this would become more so as he aged, but together he and Susan had found this position and it had become what Susan referred to as 'intimate communication'. Joined in this manner they'd had made several decisions – including the decision to move here. "Are you okay?" he asked softly.

"I will be," she answered. "I don't want to talk," she said.

"Okay," he said. He continued to hold and caress her and maintain intimate contact. He knew that after some time she would roll them back putting him on top and let him finish. He never lasted long at that point having put so much effort in maintaining contact and Susan had never climaxed this way, but that wasn't what this was about. This was comfort – pure and simple comfort. She was hurting inside and even though she knew what her brother had done was for the best, she still ached inside. David comforted his wife, giving her what she needed but this time she never rolled back and eventually contact was lost and they both fell asleep in each other's arms.


End file.
